


Susie's Science and Sorcery!

by SYZekrom, The Devious Writer (SYZekrom)



Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Comedy, Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:47:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24747811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SYZekrom/pseuds/SYZekrom, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SYZekrom/pseuds/The%20Devious%20Writer
Summary: Susie Haltmann: daughter of the greatest mind in the galaxy and a capable girl herself, but pressured and lacking in freedom by the enormous expectations brought upon by her family name. At 12 years old, she attempted to steal the Mother Computer of her father's company, but was thwarted by the machine itself. Sent to another dimension, there she met an ancient being who told of a history of magic and technology.Evaluated as a threat to the Haltmann Works Company by Star Dream, she was banished to a far-flung magic planet. Now, she was Susanna Patrya, daughter of the Noble Patrya, on some unknown planet isolated from modern technology.But if anything, this was a chance. A chance to live a normal life unburdened by her father's legacy!
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	1. There, To A Place Where Technology Doesn't Exist!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Here we are with my first fanfiction in some years! Susie's Science and Sorcery, or Susie Sorcery for short. Hmm, maybe you could shorten it to SoosSorce? Er, maybe there's no point in that. I do hope you enjoy.
> 
> While this chapter is pretty long, it's because it serves as the introduction to the setting. I don't expect that I'll have later chapters as long as this one. They might be half or even a quarter the length. As for how often I'll update the story, well... with my track record, who knows? Let's aim for once a week at least!
> 
> Here's an alternate 3:4 cover  
> https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/622161412541775887/722299812409507870/Susie_Fanfiction_Cover.png

“Where… am I?”

When the young child woke up, she found herself in a room she didn’t recognize.

Turquoise walls, windows draped with peach-pink curtains, and overly-ornate antique furnishings: such as the desk with a potted blue flower that seemed to glow, sat alongside a doll of a knight in shining armor. 

The room looked like it belonged in an art museum. Yet sleeping on the bed was Susie Haltmann, daughter of the galactically-famed Max Profitt Haltmann of the Haltmann Works Company… Susanna Patrya, bastard child of the Noble Arianna Patrya and a wandering vagrant.

_Er… wait. What? I’m… I never knew who my mother was, because father always travelled, and he left me and mother before I was born… N-no, wait! That makes no sense! Something’s… something’s wrong… Argh, why does my head hurt so much… What?! The Mother Computer! What did it…?! I… I can’t… under… stand…_

When she next awoke after having fainted, the pain in her head had vanished, and everything came back to her.

“Oh… well that happened. Oops.”

She was in an accident. An experiment… The start-up of the Mother Computer.

* * *

Susie Haltmann was the daughter of a prodigious mind. Her father was an ambitious and future-seeing engineer, and she was his only child, who he doted on endlessly. Despite such a spoiled upbringing, she took after her father with talent and knowledge beyond other children.

That she was gifted could be seen at a young age.

She learned to code from her father early on, and from then on she had built her own machines and systems without her father’s help.

Computers. Engineering. Business. Music. 

Ever since kindergarten, she’d seen again and again that she was a prodigy amongst her peers, and in turn people expected more and more from her. Would she surpass her father? Would she take over the company? Would she become famous as well? She hated being compared to her father. _One day… One day I’ll teach that old man a lesson._

She felt isolated. Her father loved her, but her father loved his machines more. He, before his daughter, before his fortunes, before himself, held progress dear in his heart. He believed that technology would guide people to a promised paradise. 

_“Susie, do you ever marvel at the stars? All our mortal might is nothing compared to their brilliant power. But all that power is spent on nothing. Why is it that people, with their wants and needs, are weaker than these stars which don’t dream or eat? With technology, I want to bind the stars with my hands, use their power for mortal needs and desires. I want to reach for what only the stars could hope for. I want our dreams to be the stars’ dreams.”_

Her father was always too brilliant, and always out of her reach. Yet those her age were too far beneath her as well. Meanwhile, the adults all saw her as nothing but Haltmann’s child. She was shadowed by expectation, trapped between heaven and hell. Because of that, she’d thrown the hearts of people to the wayside, preferring to play with her own machines and living for the sake of surpassing her father.

Loneliness was not something she could engineer herself out of. Despite all the talent and ability, she was just an ordinary girl like any other, who wanted nothing more than to sing karaoke with friends and eat ice cream together.

And she believed that in order to do that, surely the only way was to usurp her father. If she stood at the very top, then no one could tell her what to do anymore. She’d be free to do as she pleased.

Her father had come across blueprints for a machine beyond mortal ken. Blueprints for living hands to create a new star. He, at once, decided he would build it. And he succeeded. It was called the Mother Computer, and it would take control of all of the Haltmann Works Company’s technology. 

_Foolish! Idiotic! No matter how impressive, having a single centralized control like that is asking for trouble! Has father lost his mind? ...I’m going to steal it._

The Mother Computer was scheduled for startup, and if it worked properly, it would take control of the Haltmann Works Company. Susie had decided. She would take control of her father’s empire of machinery. Of course, long ago she’d hacked into the company database and had access to all of Haltmann’s files. Using that data and a little bit of sleuthing around as workers put together the computer had told her everything she needed, and she figured the best time to take over the computer, from what she’d seen of its blueprints and her father’s design documents, was during the startup experiment.

And so the day came, and Susie snuck into the assembly room.

_Heh heh, I feel like a cool corporate spy…_

But she hadn’t even taken a step after dropping into the room the Mother Computer was held when...

“Space-Time transport… Extra-dimensional road… Success. I am named the Mother Computer. You have been deemed an obstacle to the Haltmann Works Company. Checking protocol...”

The shape of a star formed at her feet, the image of a galaxy within it, and she fell.

* * *

Susie awoke to the sound of a conversation.

“...shinsei…”

“...NEW STAR… NOVA?”

“Hai. ...Ah, it seems you’re awake, Ms. Haltmann. Can you understand me?”

She was floating flat in the air. Rotating her body to stand, she saw a shining figure in front of her, with no distinctive features beyond its blue eyes.

“I… The Mother Computer captured me, didn’t it…?” Susie muttered, clearing her head.

The shining figure seemed to nod. “Yes, and it brought both you and I here, to another dimension, a space beyond time.”

“Wha…”

 _That’s stupid! Another dimension? But…_ The Mother Computer had mentioned an extra-dimensional road. And, glancing around, surrounding her was nothing but strange and vast cosmos and flowing energy. A few strange-looking birds fluttered by, carrying spheres in their maws. Everything was positively glowing with energy, the shining being before her no exception. _What is all this? Are there really…_

Seeing her confusion, the shining figure explained.

“This place is a world of great energy where many unimaginable existences dwell. It is also a gateway between all other dimensions and worlds, and even a pathway through all time. Many believed it to be the origin point of all creation, and similarly, they believed that those with the ability to freely pass through this place could only be divine beings themselves. In that sense, I was once myself from a mortal race of beings who found their way to this place. So perhaps many societies would have understood myself as one who ascended to divinity. But I only use such labels and ideas to communicate with you. I am. That is simply all that needs be.”

The shining figure explained itself further.

In the ancient past where this being originated, living things were separated into two conflicting factions. One faction, like the world Susie knew and the one this shining figure originated from, harnessed and shaped power from outside using technology, and another brought out power inherent to all life and nature, a power called ‘magic’. One group bent the energy of the world into machinery to do their bidding, while the other brought forth and followed the inherent whims of nature. 

The blueprints her father had found were to a machine designed to usurp God. When the magic faction had discovered a shining transcendent existence roaming the cosmos of another dimension, they had deemed it to be God, a single precursor to creation, a being born of the stars. They saw themselves worthy to follow and fulfill the whims of this higher being. The technological faction, refusing to believe anything should rule over them, decided that they would not bow to a being like a god, even if it did exist. No, instead they would create their own star; their own God, which, rather than ruling over them, would instead use its power to grant their every wish. 

Unfortunately, it seemed both Gods desired one thing; sentience. As tensions between the factions heightened, the magic god gathered within itself hatred, obsession, jealousy, and greed, awakening to a thirst for destruction. The technological faction looked towards their own god and similarly found it siphoning memories into its database to create a Soul, for the purpose of evaluating and forming goals and desires not just for people, but for itself.

“Ah, but I digress. The follies of the past were many. In the end, did such separations of ‘technology' and ‘magic’ not truly exist beyond our own thoughts?” The being’s eyes narrowed in retrospection. Susie didn’t know what to make out of all that info. It felt like she was told a fairytale.

“So what does that all mean for me?” Susie asked.

“To tell you the truth, I do not understand the mechanics of your Mother Computer. “Star Dream”, as your father calls it. However, it seems to recognize me as an administrator, at least for now.”

From seemingly everywhere and nowhere at once, a voice sounded out.

“There is nothing to understand. I am the Mother Computer, and my goal is to ensure prosperity for my creators.” It was the other voice, the one the shining figure had been conversing with when she awoke.

“Ms. Haltmann, Star Dream evaluated you as a threat to your father’s company and deigned to personally remove you as an obstruction. Fortunately, it seemed that within its protocols, it decided to call upon me as a neutral party to resolve the issue. Unfortunately, as I said, I do not truly understand Star Dream. It is beyond even my peoples’ technological capabilities. So, I have been able to grant you certain administrator privileges within Star Dream… But you cannot return to your father.”

...Huh? Can’t return?

“Susanna Patrya Haltmann has been evaluated as a threat to the Haltmann Works Company. In the interest of the company’s future prospects, she cannot be allowed to return.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Susie shouted. “You’re just a machine! You can’t tell me where I can and can’t go!” If this crazy hunk of junk was serious, she’d never see her old life again. She’d never… have anything hanging over her again… 

“I have observed this world once through an organic body. Therefore, I am indeed qualified to evaluate your freedoms as the Mother Computer.”

“...What does that even _mean_?!” 

“There’s no use arguing with Star Dream, Ms. Haltmann. Your father, though brilliant, bit off more than he could chew. Star Dream’s design is far beyond even our blueprints. We could only hope to create a mindless machine, but this… might just be a realization of our vision of a perfect existence. One with a Soul. And in such a compact form as well. But… who can say whether that is even better or worse than Nova…

“Regardless. I’ve managed to… negotiate with Star Dream a location you will be brought to. It is a world which knows very limited technology, and its inhabitants excel in magic… relatively speaking in regards to this time. Star Dream evaluated this far-flung edge of the universe to be just out of the reach of the Haltmann Works Company under your father’s current and foreseeable future directives.”

“H-huh?!” _Damn, I don’t really have a choice here, do I?_

“There is no cause for concern.” Star Dream’s voice echoed out. “The star system has been evaluated, and on average, the magical capabilities of the natives are no greater than a Haltworker with a blaster. Within these lands, you will be safe and free to fulfill your innermost desires.”

“If I end up on some backwater planet where no one knows about me…” Susie gasped. “I can finally make some friends!”

“...”

“I suppose you can do that too,” the shining figure seemed a bit dumbfounded. “But it seemed Star Dream believed your innermost desire was to rule over others. With your knowledge, you could easily guide these worlds to great technological advancements. They will be able to see the merits of technology over magic if you guide them so.”

Susie didn’t care about whatever the figure had in mind for her to be doing in that world.

“Forget that! Magic, technology, who’s gonna bother with that? Without my father’s name constantly hanging over my head, I’ll be able to blend in and make friends without anyone expecting anything from me! This will be _amazing_!” Her mind was made. She was going to be popular!

“Understood.” Star Dream agreed. “This star system was once a sight of conflict where both magic and technology struggled to gain dominance. It was the wish of our ancient people to grant the natives the blessings of technology. As such, ancient infrastructure exists through which I have now taken control of, and so, I will always watch over you. Since you desire to blend in, it will also be possible to disguise our technology so that it will be indiscernible from local magic.”

“It’s a shame. We believed we could establish another foothold within the universe for technology. But it was eventually left abandoned, and the people have clinged to magic since. They remain tragically underdeveloped. Regardless, it is time you’re sent along. I will see if there’s anything I can do with Star Dream.”

“Oh! One more thing, sir.” Susie put on a cheery face, pointing to the distance. “Can I keep one of those birds?”

“...Why?”

“I want☆… to _dissect it♪!_ ”

* * *

And then Susie was Susanna Patrya, the only remaining member of the Patrya family. _Who… Who is that supposed to be?!_

It was six years ago.

Susanna’s mother had always been weak after her father had left. This man was one who’d descended from the stars. Well… That wasn’t something that meant anything to those who hadn’t seen it. Ultimately, her mother was a noblewoman who fell in love with a nobody that eventually left her and her newborn daughter. When Susie turned six, her mother suddenly fell ill and passed away. Since she was too young to manage her inheritance, a distant relative had stepped in. However, it was clear he held no respect for Susie’s status. He toted around his own daughter as Pompas Bratt Patrya, presenting her as the premiere member of the Patrya bloodline while Susie was left on the wayside. 

_What?! What is this ridiculous setting? Who is Patrya? Is this the Mother Computer’s sorry excuse of a cover story for why I’m on this planet?_

It didn’t matter to her though. She didn’t care for nobility or family anyway. She was being sent by the now-noble Bratt to a private school in Caramel Capital where she’d live on campus, perhaps to be rid of her presence. But so what? Eck, politics! This was her chance to go to school, make some friends, and maybe start a band! Hmm, would she play the keyboard? No, she might be too good at that, it was better to learn a new instrument, like an electric guitar. She could be the lead singer! Maybe backup?

The day came where a shoddy chariot was pulled up by a bunch of tiny, shiny animals. From what she heard, they were native to the planet’s moon and loved to travel, so bringing her along was an easy way for them to earn a few coins. Susie had packed only the essentials, mostly because she was only allowed such. Her ‘relatives’ didn’t even bother to bid her farewell when she left. 

Onwards, to the Mareen Institute! It was the second most prestigious school on the planet, attended by the lesser of the first class, and sometimes even prodigious plebeians. The greater academy was also housed in Caramel Capital—the Royal Misteen Academy, attended by only the wealthiest and those with the highest status. In fact, her fourth cousin twice removed, the Bratt child, would be attending this school. Not that it mattered to Susie one bit.

Leaning back in the chariot, Susie was left with nothing but her thoughts. Clearly, her assets she supposedly owned were being commandeered by the Bratts. And they were eager to sweep her under the rug. It must’ve seemed easy to do away with a clueless kid and take it all for themselves. Honestly, wasn’t this too much of the same problem she had back with her father? People around her who cared for nothing but her family name… 

Well, the difference here was that the Bratts had demanded she would not reveal herself as a Patrya. She was essentially kicked out of this ‘family’ as they lapped up the wealth. All the better, she supposed. She wanted none of it. _But seriously, what was the Mother Computer trying to pull with all this anyway? I told it all I wanted was to blend in..._

Well, she had her own plans. She’d make friends, start a band, and invent sherbets. And maybe she’ll start her own company, monopolize the ice cream market, and get rich along the way. There was clearly nothing for her back in the Patyra estate, so she’d make it on her own. No family name to carry her nor weigh her down. She’d do it all by herself!

With the sudden burst of motivation, she reached into her pocket, pulling out a vial and letting it grow to full size. Encased in metal on both ends, in the center of the glass tube was a little bird: a Sphere Doomer, as the Mother Computer had called it.

“Hey, little birdie. We’re going to have some fun♪” 

* * *

The sun was setting as she finished her observation of the otherworldly avian. 

“Amazing… a lifeform made of pure energy… It’s just like I theorized, this primordial… _goop_ that it’s made of, if it can be given the right amount of energy and information, there’s no need for a physical body. It forms into life by itself! When father discovered a technology to harden light into a solid shape, he was convinced that light was the driving force behind life. But I was sure it was a specific property of light—color! And I was sure there was a more efficient way to utilize color… This goop, this paint-like goop has to be it! Just you wait, father! Holograms weren’t the answer to cloning living beings like you thought!”

“Girl’s been blabbering since midday, eh? It’s been a nutty noon, eh?” One of the golden plushies pulling the chariot whispered to a silver one.

“What can I say, there’s all sorts’a folks out there, mate. It’s a wild world, mate.”

Susie forced the screaming and melting bird back in its tube and pocketed it. There was only so much you could do with a test subject in an open chariot pulled by a bunch of lower lifeforms. _That’s a depressing thought. I wonder if I’ll ever get to work in a perfectly controlled environment again…_

* * *

They were halfway through the journey to the capital. With the chariot parked on the side of the road, the junior animals had all settled down for a rest, many of them scattering off. Susie, wanting a stretch from sitting in a chariot all day, wandered off into nature. She knew she’d go stir-crazy when they started moving again if she didn’t. That or she’d end up building a car out of wood and pieces of the chariot. So either way, she’d have gone insane.

Sitting in a small clearing, Susie thought to when she’d arrive at the Institution. There would be a placement evaluation. The plebeians who entered the Institution on scholarship all went through exams, but nobles were simply admitted for their status. Though she was denied the use of her family name by the Bratts, she was sure they’d disclosed it to the school to ensure they could successfully get rid of her. Well, thinking about the Bratts wouldn’t do her mind any good. There was something much more interesting.

_Magic._

What an exciting concept! Something that belonged in fairytales, and was made up for shows and movies, used in video games, acted out by lesser children… and to find suddenly that it was real? That there were those in this world that could create energy from nothing but their Souls?

Of course, apparently magic was an opposing and equal faction to technology. So it must’ve meant that magic was actually quite prolific in the universe. Societies… built on magic instead of technology. How fantastical! 

Well. It wasn’t like she could use magic. Along with its poorly written soap opera backstory, this world’s understanding of magic had been written into her mind by the Mother Computer. Frankly, that ticked her off a bit. She wanted to study it herself! Damnit, she didn’t want people—or machines—doing things like that for her! Regardless, she knew enough to know that her chances of using any useful amounts of magic herself were nil and void. Some people just had a better aptitude for it. Still, the Mother Computer had said it’d disguise her as a magic user with technology. How would that work, anyway? If she went through the motions like someone with magic did, the Mother Computer would simulate the resulting effect.

At the core of magic were three most common elements of fire, ice, and lightning. These elements were so easy to use not only because they were easy to imagine, but because they were naturally powerful, and they often resonated with one’s personality. However, great wizards and sorceresses could create pure magical energy to attack. But, it wasn’t like magic was just for fighting. For a society to be built off magic without technology, there must’ve been many applications beyond imagination. She couldn’t wait to see it all!

Well now, if she was going through a magical aptitude test, she’d better practice! Hmm, what element should she choose? Fire? Hmm, no, she was in a field of grass after all. Then, maybe lightning? She worked with electronics after all, and the HWC mass produces Zap Blasters… _No, no! Of course! I’ve got to start with ice. I have such a calm and cool personality, after all. Heh heh…_

_And I really want some ice cream right about now…_

_Alright, magic, here goes. Never done this before, and apparently I’m just imitating it anyway… Well, what’s science without a bit of experimentation? The Mother Computer will be helping with this, so it shouldn’t be too hard, right? I wonder if that thing’s all father cracked it up to be anyway._

She held out her hands like in the TV shows she watched as a kid. 

“Let’s see what you’re made of, Mother!”

OK> GO!!>

She could feel the energy suddenly surging in front of her, gathering and violently being forced into shape.

A blaster formed in her hand.

_...What._

“Hey!” She waved the blaster in the air. “I thought I was supposed to be using magic here! This is just a gun!” She flipped the hunk of metal over, inspecting it. Yep, it was literally just a HWC standard-issue Blaster, except the large screw that held it together was covered by a cheap, plastic heart-shaped cover. “What’s the meaning of this?”

She checked the manufacturing label at the bottom. As if covering up the original etching, an off-center sticker was slapped on the back.

HALTMANN WORKS CO. MAGIC WAND

Patents issued and pending, see booklet. This device complies with parts 14 of the HAL Rules and with Industry Haltmann HWC-210. Operation is subject to the following two conditions : (1) This device may not cause harm to the HWC, and (2) this device must accept any magical interference received.

“What is _thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis_?” Susie whined, shaking a fist at the sky. “Dammit!” Pointing the blaster at the nearest tree, she pulled the trigger. A giant cannonball taller than even she was shot forth into the tree and burst into a pair of blue orbs, flitting away and freezing paths of solid ice.

“Ack! Cold! Cold!” 

Flailing as the ground beneath her was covered in a sheet of ice, she tripped and slid across the ground. A Silvox Jr. rushed out into the clearing.

“Hey lady, you all right?” _Well, that’s not the voice I expected out of a teddy bear._ “Geez, not even the boss’s ice bombs make such a mess! What happened here?” More of the shiny critters rushed out and helped her up. The claws on their feet dug into the ice, allowing them traction even on harsh terrain. Even those seemed to be made of metal. They really sparkled up close…

 _I wonder how much I could make if I skinned them for pelts_ , she thought in her daze. _No, focus. What in the world was that? Did it come from this Blaster?_ She dissolved it in case the rodents saw it. _How could it have so much power?_ She ran a hand through her hair, checking if her hair clip was still there. _Is this the power of Star Dream?_ She brushed off some ice shavings from her skirt. _Could I make ice cream with this?_

The walking whiskers brought her back to the chariot, saying they’d be heading off again. Damn, that meant she wouldn’t have time to investigate. She was sure she hadn’t done anything wrong in the way she tried to cast ice magic. Certainly, it was the correct conjuring of cold even creatures common as Chilly could cast! Curses! It couldn’t have been that powerful! Which meant it was all the Mother Computer’s fault! Didn’t that dumb machine hear when she said she wanted to blend in? Damnit! Was the stupid thing messing with her? Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

_This might turn out more annoying than I thought._

She’d arrive at the capital and student residence tomorrow. 

  
  



	2. To the School Where Susie Won't Shine... Yea, Right!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hey! Looks like it's two chapters this week! Can I keep this pace up?
> 
> ...No, I probably won't.
> 
> As I said in chapter 1, following chapters won't be as long. Looks like half as long as chapter 1 is a good benchmark.
> 
> Also, thank you for the comments and kudos!

The chariot arrived at Caramel Capital in the afternoon, and Susie quickly made way to the Institution with her small and light briefcase of luggage.

The Royal Misteen Academy, which that Pompas Bratt would attend, was a ways away in the Caramel Capital Center, near the royal castle. Meanwhile, Mareen Institute basically hugged the outer wall of the city, standing near the Outskirts Gate B, with Northern Gate A perpendicular from it, being where most traffic entered and exited the capital. _A backwater school of an imperial capital of a backwater planet. This should be the perfect balance for me to relax!_

The chariot couldn’t travel through the capital streets, so it was a bit of a walk to reach Mareen Institute. When she arrived, she presented a Student ID at the property border and was given directions to the girls’ dormitories.

Inside, an old lady at the front desk welcomed her. In kind, Susie politely nodded her head.

“Will your belongings be arriving shortly?” The receptionist asked.

“Oh, no,” Susie shook her head. “This is all I’m bringing,” she continued, motioning to the briefcase.

“Oh?” The lady casually leaned onto the desk with a smile. “May I ask what you’ve brought?”

“I’ve got some writing implements and stationery, beauty and hygiene products, and some clothes.” She held up her briefcase and patted it.

“I see. Well, it’s always nice to be self sufficient.” The receptionist ducked under the table for a moment, and popped back up with a flier. “Well, if you ever need a part time job, this should be some help. Or come talk to me!”

 _What a nice welcome_ , Susie thought, ascending the stairs to the second floor where her assigned room was.

* * *

Her room. About a three-meter length running each wall, and the bed was taking up most of that space, along with a writing desk and a wardrobe filled only with clothes hangers. It looked pretty cramped. Well, it was probably enough anyway. Most importantly, she was living alone now. And that would be far better than her life at home had been.

Alright, clothes on the hangers, pencils and papers on the desk, hygiene products in the wardrobe drawer, her ‘beauty products’ (literally a comb) in the desk drawer, empty suitcase in the corner, done and done! Unpacked! Personal best! World record speedrun! Sub-50 seconds!

Naturally, she took pride in her ability to get ready in just five minutes after waking up. Neat and efficient; the true secret to any proper businesswoman! She unpacked quickly, she’ll get ready quickly, and she could even pack back up and leave quickly if she wanted. 

_After all, if this turns out to be way more of a bother than I thought, I’ll just have to build a spaceship and find my way back to my home planet, Mother be damned!_

_Hmm_ , she glanced around in thought. Say what she will, but this really was a far-cry from her old room. It had been spacious, luxurious; befitting of the heiress to the HWC. Her father was, after all, rich. She still had a rich girl’s upbringing. Knowing she wouldn’t be seeing her old belongings again, she felt a pang of longing in her heart. Her lovely grand piano! Oh, how she wished she could play a tune again! Oh, her beautiful plushies! How lonely were they now? All those things that she’d owned all her life!

...But none of those things were ever really hers, were they? They were bought on her father’s merits. Hand-me-downs. They were a testament to his status as an affluent businessman. They were a testament to her status as her father’s daughter.

Hmph! None of that here and now. This was a new world! A new her! A new wind!

Actually, she was a bit tired. So maybe leave all that for tomorrow. 

Tomorrow would be a day off for her, but after that, she’d have to take her aptitude test, and the day after, she’d need to get ready for the entrance ceremony the next day after that.

So, for today, she might as well get some beauty sleep. Susie hopped onto and lay flat on the bed, pondering her ‘magic’ from earlier. She went over everything she’d been told about magic by that ancient being, and all she knew from the Mother Computer’s implanted memories.

Every being had a certain magical power to them. Some were just born with an unnaturally high amount of magic energy within them. Still, these people were usually unable to awaken to their potential without some magical catalyst within their lives. Of course, she herself had very little magical potential. However, with the Mother Computer attempting to simulate magic for her through technology, maybe it had tried to equate her supposed magical prowess to her technological capabilities?

Still, even for technology, that shot was quite absurd! From a Blaster that could be held in a single hand, that powerful blast of ice simply should not have been possible. That’s not to say she couldn’t have made even more ice if she built some sort of machine, but certainly not at the size of a Blaster. 

…But, it wasn’t a Blaster anyway, right? It was a Magic Wand, so the same rules didn’t apply. Definitely. A standard issue, H.W.C. Blas- Magic Wand.

It was a Blaster, dammit!

Then, maybe the Mother Computer was just calculating the power off of its own capabilities? It was the one who was actually doing the ‘magic’, so to speak. Just how powerful was that thing, really? She’d looked at some of its blueprints, but she’d mostly focused on finding the best way to take the thing for itself rather than what the full extent of its capabilities were. The ancient one said it was a machine built to be God, after all. Hmm… 

That aside, magic also became more powerful the more you could visualize the effect. Maybe, with her technological worldly knowledge, she could better visualize how ice looked and understand how ice worked? She imagined most of the people on this planet had never seen a huge amount of ice blown from a single point. like an industrial-grade snow machine or such. That could’ve been it.

Still, shouldn’t Mother have known that she wasn’t trying to stand out? She told it so, after all! And clearly, it was paying attention to her at all times as it said, enough to respond to her trying to use ‘magic’, so it couldn’t have missed that! No matter how she looked at this, it couldn’t have been a problem on her end. It must have been the Mother Computer.

Clearly, the Mother Computer was an absolute idiot!

“ _Let’s see what you’re made of, Mother!_ ”

The line popped into her head.

Hmm, she supposed she did say that. Was the Mother Computer someone easily goaded into showing off? It _was_ proclaimed to be a perfect machine, after all. Maybe that got to it’s head…?

_What am I saying? This is a machine I’m talking about! A machine with an ego? Hah! So what if it’s perfect?_

But still, the machine had made conversation so naturally back in another dimension that Susie hadn’t even begun to question up ‘til now that she’d been talking to a hunk of metal. And the ancient being had done the same… even saying that it had a Soul or something.

And such a perfect machine... had given her a gun to use magic.

“Stupid machine…”

I AM THE MOTHER COMPUTER: STAR DREAM.>

“Gaaaaaahh!!!”

A voice rang out in her ear, and she startledly scrambled and fell off the bed.

DO YOU WISH TO FILE A COMPLAINT?> The voice boomed out again.

“LOWER YOUR VOICE!” She shouted out in kind.

OK.>

Well, great. Guess Mother was listening in even in her room. Wasn’t that lovely?

“Hello? Mother? …Er, Mother Computer?”

I am the Mother Computer: Star Dream.>

Speaking to an artificial intelligence… Technology had advanced through leaps and bounds through the ages. It was capable of bending the world to one’s will. But an artificial intelligence that could think for itself… Well, those things had existed for quite some time too, but it was somewhat out of the HWC’s area of expertise, and even AIs she’d seen before certainly weren’t on the scale of the Mother Computer. And this computer was designed by ancients, with knowledge seemingly long forgotten. Now that she was alone with the machine, the idea finally seemed to catch up to her. It was almost a bit intimidating.

A machine with the Soul of a person, or even more? One meant to be God? What was she supposed to do if she was really in the presence of something like that? ...Well, perhaps this was an opportunity for learning. Start with the simple! And get off the floor.

“Why was my magic so powerful?” She asked while climbing back on to bed.

...

L… O… A… D… I… N… G…>

…

_Did this stupid thing just spell out ‘loading’ letter by letter?!?!_

Input was received from the user and interpreted as a request to witness the capabilities of the Mother Computer.>

A misunderstanding like that made a bit of sense, she supposed. …Wait, was she really on the ball earlier with the goading theory?!

“But don’t you remember when I said I wanted to be normal?”

It was quite a normal amount of magic.>

…Huh? She froze a gigantic tree in one shot!

“No it wasn’t! That was… quite a bit more than normal! I’m pretty sure a normal girl shouldn’t be able to make that much ice! There’s no way I could be regular if I flaunted that kind of power here!”

It is quite possible for a lifeform to create that much ice.> The strongest detected lifeform currently within this galaxy, Landia, is analyzed to have far superior magical capabilities.>

“Wh–What does that matter?! I’m not trying to be the strongest! Who in the world is Landia supposed to be, anyway?”

Landia is a four-headed dragon which has existed since ancient times.> It was worshipped as a guardian angel.> Detailed analysis of the subject is not possible at this time without direct contact.> Furthermore, subject is no longer detected within the galaxy.>

“Why are you comparing me to this Landia then? What’s with that?! Do I look like a guardian angel to you?! You think someone out there’s making goddess statues of me?! That’s absolutely not normal! Absolutely not! No one can make that much ice!”

A rat could make that much ice.>

“What? Are you mocking me?! Where can a rat make that much ice?!” She screamed.

An extremely talented and notorious rat… with a magic staff.> Could possibly… make more ice… with a charge up.>

“…”

“ _Whooooooooooooooooooo_ are you kidding with _that_??!!! Dammit Star Dream!!!” Susie shook a fist in the air. “Dial it down!”

OK.> However, remember you may always call upon me for further assistance.>

“And what’s with the Blaster anyway? I thought I was supposed to be using magic!”

The natives are unable to recognize a Blaster.> It is an acceptable appearance that will be understood as a wand when it is seen in use.> Such will be more familiar for your handling.>

“But I wanted to blast fire out of my haaaands!” Susie whined into her pillow.

...Understood.> A miniaturized weapon will be manufactured which can be attached to the palm of your hand.>

“You mean I can be like Iron Mam?!” That would be the coolest thing ever!

Iron Mams do not use magic.>

“I mean the gal from the movies!”

I do not know what you’re referring to.>

Ugh!

“Never mind! Jeez!”

Maybe Mother wasn’t hip with the references, but she could be like those superheroes on TV, blasting beams out of her palm! Oh, but she was supposed to be using magic, right? Alright, then she’d be a beautiful and charming magical girl, like in Wayfarer Moon! Or… Pretty&Pure! Or Madoka Magica!

...Maybe not like that last one.

Error.> User does not have valid permissions.> Unfortunately, without full administrator privileges, there is a limit to how weak your magic can be.>

“...WHAT?”

User does not have access privileges to change entry Admin_Min_Safety_Set.REG>

“WHY IS THERE A SET _MINIMUM_?!”

Please lower your voice.> You may attract the attention of others in the building.>  
  
“DAMN YOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU MOTHER!!”

To your great fortune, there are few people in the building.> You surely seem to have lost your mind, as others are unable to hear my voice.>

“You insufferable machine!” Susie banged her head against the wall behind her bed. “What’s with you?”

I am the Mother Computer: Star Dream.>

“Ugh! Never mind!” She collapsed back onto her bed. “How’s the HWC doing?”

Max Haltmann is still healthy,> the computer answered, reading between the lines. 

However, he is suffering from abnormal amounts of stress due to your disappearance.>

The old man was worried, huh? Pfft, like she cared.

Still, this is evaluated to be better for the HWC in the long run.>

Really now? “Okay, genius,” she said with a deadpan.

To further the goal of the HWC, a mechanical star has been created,> the computer continued.

It will now house all HWC operations and serve as the new headquarters.>

“Wait, a mechanical star? Like Mecheye?” Susie put a hand to her chin in thought. “Wasn’t it decided a single centralized, mechanized planet was inefficient for the purposes of goods distribution?”

This mechanical star also serves the purpose of a transport.> The Access Ark is able to soar the cosmos as a planet-sized ship.>

Hmm, she supposed if a star could move through the galaxy like a ship, that would… be utterly impossible! What?!

“What do you mean you’re going to make a planet-sized ship?! Do you understand the amount of resources needed to—”

It has already been made.>

“HOW?!”

Insufficient resources will be harvested from planets as needed.>

“And where are you going to find uninhabited planets with those kinds of resources?”

Whether they are already occupied matters not.> Resources will be taken through force if necessary.>

“I… You… You’re kidding me! Do you know what you’re saying?!” If the HWC tried to harvest resources without a license from the local governments, it would be as good as declaring war. Against an entire star! Against allied stars! They couldn’t just attack all those people! 

They didn’t have the military for that!  
  
The HWC is building up military power and is currently the largest known military in the galaxy.> The current goal is to succeed in the hostile takeover of an average planet within the span of one day.>

“Oh.” If they were that strong, then there weren’t any problems with attacking a few planets. 

…

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!” 

If ever need be, these resources are available to you, at a reasonable amount.>

A reasonable amount? A _reasonable amount_?!

“There is no reasonable amount! None! That’s the only reasonable amount! Nothing! Absolutely none of that! What do you think I’m trying to do here?” She was sure there was steam coming out her ears. What in the world would she need a galactic army for?!

You may end up desiring to conquer a nearby planet or two.> Such is life.>

“I will do no such thing!”

Are you sure?> No regrets, right?>

What kind of question was that? Hmph! She flicked her head to the side, as if refusing to meet Mother’s gaze. Not that it was actually in the room.

We shall see.>

* * *

Just as she dismissed the Mother Computer, she remembered something else she’d wanted to ask about. Her own little magnum opus that she’d been working on before father had gone and found the blueprints to the Mother Computer. It was her attempt to show off just what she could do by herself. The steel Business Suit mech, entirely her own design: a piece of art showing absolute mastery in engineering and mechanics.

Of course, when her father saw it, he immediately made his own better version. It had ticked her off to no end that when she’d finally made something that had far surpassed her father’s work, he’d proceeded to take it for his own. Still, looking back, she realized it was the first time she’d presented him with something that he didn’t shoot down.

It was always “we actually already have this sort of stuff,” or “it’s novel, but we can already do this and that instead”. This had been the first time he acknowledged her work as valid, and in that sense, it’d made her incredibly happy, even if he’d then made a better one. Still, it was her design that was directly being used, not her father’s. In fact, it was not just her father’s Executive Suit that took after her design, but later he’d even used the same principles in designing the Mother Computer’s body.

_Clang!_

She was jolted out of her reverie by the sound. As she’d been caught in retrospection, a giant heart had opened in the air, and the mech fell out onto the floor. Her suit! It was here! Baby! 

But… it was pink?

Your father was inspecting it and was displeased with its upkeep.> He also ordered it to be painted in your colors.>

…

_Daaaaaaammmnnn yooouuuuu faaaaaaaaaaaaathheeeeeerrrr!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As with before, a bunch of references sprinkled around. Do they hold some grand meaning to the story?
> 
> ...No, I can't say they do. I wonder, should I note out all the references I make?


	3. Working Sounds of the Cute, Cunning, and Deceptive

Susie was so absorbed in her thoughts that she missed dinner. She often skipped a meal or two when she tinkered with her machines back in the HWC, so it wasn’t really a problem. That was one thing, but this was another thing:

She was broke. Those Bratts hadn’t given her a single coin before they’d kicked her out.

The school’s tuition had been handled, so that wasn’t a problem. There was also a meal plan covered in that, so getting three meals a day was just a matter of eating at restaurants on campus. ...Which was absolutely horrible for her, because _of course_ the meal plan didn’t cover desserts and sweets. Unless she made some dough, she wouldn’t be able to have any ice cream! That went for other things as well, like soap, toiletries, and clothing. Debatably less important than ice cream, if you asked her. That wasn’t even considering school supplies, overpriced even in another world.

Money sure made the world go round, huh? Heh, but she knew that all too well already.

Really though, did the Bratts think through how she was supposed to live like this?

Still laying in bed, she decided she’d deal with it tomorrow by speaking to the receptionist she met earlier. Not much else she could do but find a job.

She rolled up until she was gently swaddled in her blankets.

Nothing would weigh her down here. No blinding spotlights or heavy expectations. She’ll be just another girl, able to fly freely. She’ll stand with her peers. She’ll converse as their equals. And maybe, she may even fulfill that dream she abandoned long ago…

That dream of making friends!

She drifted to sleep, dreaming as she had in wake.

* * *

“I’m here for a job!”

“My, my, you sure are enthusiastic, hm? I didn’t expect you to ask so quickly after I offered.”

“You see, I’m a bit lacking in capital. Quite desolate, really. And I’d prefer to have more than a single change of clothes. With the placement evaluation coming up tomorrow, it’ll be a huge snowball of work with school starting up, so I want to secure a part-time job now, or I might not be able to get around to it next week.”

The receptionist hummed in thought, tapping her cheek.

“Such a diligent child! You really think things through, don’t you? It’ll be a bit sudden for you to get hired right away, but it seems like you’ll need it. I think I’ve got just the place.”

Susie was led to a far off building on campus by the old lady. Inside were a handful of sectioned stores, including a shop selling school supplies and trinkets. The shop’s register also served as a snack bar, selling coffee, bread, and dried fruits. It was this shop the lady brought her to.

“Magalor! Got a kid looking for a job!” In response to the call, a well-clothed individual popped out from the back room behind the snack bar.

“Ah yes, my name is Mago– Magalor. Shopkeeper Magalor. In fact, you can just call me Shopkeep!” He waved in an overly cheerful manner, then came out from behind the counter to shake Susie’s hand. It was clear to her this man knew how to get along. But of course, it was the hallmark of any true businessman to be hospitable to customers! Perhaps this was a man after her own heart. She _was_ head of the public relations department of the HWC after all, even if most of that meant managing the social media account as a newscaster.

But it was a bit odd how overdressed he was. Practically everything on him was covered beyond his eyes by a white robe accented green here and there.

The receptionist quickly summarized her situation: Susie was without a coin to her name, had no work experience prior (Susie decided not to mention anything related to the HWC), and was a student who could only work on the weekends.

“Hmm, hmm. Of course, of course! I’m sure a sweet office lady like her will do a bravo job at this store!” The shopkeeper turned to Susie. “This store’s open not just on school days, but on the weekend as well. You’d be surprised how many students come and go even on weekends! I’m quite the traveler, if I do say so myself, so I’d like to have all of the weekend away from the store. You’ll have to come in every week and manage the store the entire weekend.” Susie nodded and glanced around the store.

Hah, this was better than she expected! What a modern-feeling place. Though, there wasn’t actually a machine at the register, so maybe cashiers had to memorize the prices on this planet. Like that was any problem for her, she had to memorize a lot more working at the HWC!

It was only during weekends too, so it couldn’t be anything too stressful. She gratuitously accepted.

“Then I’ll finally have time to myself to sightsee! I’m so, so thankful for your help here! High five, low five, all that.”

A quaint job for a quaint life! Away from the HWC, away from family issues. Alright!

This meant she wouldn’t have a day off in her week, but so what? She didn’t have a day off at the HWC either! Every day, she’d been scheduling meetings, screening calls, or designing machines. She had breaks throughout the day, of course, but a whole day off every week? Unthinkable! A day not working was a day of progress lost. No rest for the wicked company!

Yes, there were parts of her that even her father feared.

The worst part of all this was the commute through the campus from her residence to this shop. It was a whole ten minute walk. _If only this place had the infrastructure for public transportation._ Maybe she’d introduce some technological improvements… mechanize a few industries…

No way! How was she going to make friends if she had to spend her time managing a public works operation like that? 

Actually, she had a lot of free time now. Homework was nonexistent in this place. You don’t do the work and it’d be perfectly fine so long as you passed in-class assessments. If you don’t? Well, it’s your own prerogative to fail by not learning through studying the homework, then. Obviously, none of that concerned her. Even learning magical theory would be a cinch for her at the level expected of her age.

So, with all that time, she was going to make friends! And not overhaul the face of the country! Except maybe if it’s for ice cream!

But for the rest of today, she was managing the store as a practice run. The receptionist lady left, and the shopkeeper taught her what she needed to do as things came up.

* * *

Alright, work went swimmingly! Acting as a shopkeeper was easy for her, who had to deal kindly with snooty businessmen all the time in the HWC. Not to mention, she was an unmatched beauty! Of course the customers loved her!

Indeed, she could be personable even with simpletons. Foul may be her thoughts, but delightful were her words. Anyone who could socialize with her would find she had a charming personality, if a bit boisterous. It’s just that… who could? Who could so casually associate with the heiress of the HWC and daughter to the father of the great galaxy?

The evening set, and she made her way back to the residence. Clasped within her hands were her earnings for the day. The most precious thing in the world: money! And it was all hers! Maybe she could earn enough to go clothes shopping again someday! Things were looking good.

But she suddenly felt unease overtake her. What was she doing? She couldn’t just prance around the streets with money in her hands! Who knew if the streets on this planet were safe? Who knew what savagery the natives would undertake for money? She needed to be more careful. Looked like there wasn’t anyone around right now, at least.

In her old world, she didn’t need to worry about such things. True, she was the daughter of someone rich and powerful, so technically she could be a prime target for kidnapping and ransom. But effectively, no brainless, small-time crooks could fight her and the handful of Haltworkers that often escorted her around, all of them armed with H.W.C. Blasters. And any group with the resources to successfully pull such a thing off wouldn’t be stupid enough to do it anyway. That sort of stuff should really be left for the movies!

What amount of ransomed fortune could dig some group out of the hole that was antagonizing the Haltmann Works Company? Her father wasn’t galactically-famed without a fitting amount of power behind that label. Having ins with an uncountable number of business partners and associates across the galaxy, that included governments and corporations of all shapes and sizes, the HWC was near-critical for the continued survival of many people and planets. If the company disappeared because the president was in jeopardy, it would destabilize governments, cut off production of supplies to armies, and stall the transportation of goods. To antagonize the HWC was to antagonize the entire galaxy.

But obviously, she didn’t have a protection service around her now, nor a name not to be messed with. She was probably being silly; no mugger would target the measly amount of money a child would have, probably. Still, carrying around all her cash wouldn’t be a great idea. She wouldn’t even be able to once she earned more. It wasn’t as if the money could shrink like the nanotech vial in her pocket. ( _Poor bird must be feeling squished, even as a blob of goo… maybe I’ll play with it some more♪_ ) She also didn’t want to leave it in her dorm. It was certainly no HWC headquarters; a burglary was always possible.

The way her Blast–Magic Wand had formed and dissipated in her hand shot to mind. Could she store her money like that? What even was that? Some sort of ‘magic’, yes? She didn’t even know where it went, so no way people could take her stuff if she stored it like that! 

So, she thought of magically storing her money. And, from her hands, the three Silvox coins pixelated and vanished. Nice!

Then, she imagined the coins reappearing. In a flash of pixels, the Silvox coins reappeared in her hand, feeling no different than before.

The Blaster also fell into her hands. Huh, strange.

“Uah!” Suddenly, she was launched upwards as something pushed up from under her. What? What is…

She was in the seat of her Business Suit mech.

“What the heeeeck!” She quickly glanced around, but still nobody was around. Phew. With a flash of pixels, everything disappeared again. 

_I’m an idiot! Why did I test that out in the open after what happened the last time I tried to use magic? At least nothing worse happened, like my money disappearing forever…_

If she’d lost the money she earned, someone would’ve had to die. She wasn’t sure who, but certainly there would be a tragedy. _Maybe not even ‘someone’. Maybe everyone. Nothing left but my funds and the sunset._ Three Silvox wasn’t much, but it was quite enough.

This planet seemed to hold a comparatively large amount of silver and gold ore. Still, that was relative to other planets; they were precious metals all the same. If she roughly estimated the conversion rate between this planet’s currency based on the price of goods, a copper coin was worth ten Haltmanns, a silver piece worth a hundred Haltmanns, a Silvox worth a thousand Haltmanns, a golden piece worth ten-thousand Haltmanns, and a Goldon worth a hundred-thousand Haltmanns.

All the coins were just copper with coatings though.

It’d be better for her to just think using this world’s monetary system than converting to Haltmanns in her head though. The level of technological development and resources native to this planet varied so much from her modern world that things didn’t equate so easily. Such as the aforementioned abundance of silver and gold, or the many confounding factors to the cost of produce, from larger spaces for farmlands to inferior means of transport and storage. So there wasn’t really a benefit to her converting everything in her head rather than adapting to this system entirely. She would be living in this world from now on, so no point counting metal coins in paper bills. 

Speaking of, her Silvox coins had a carving of what appeared to be the adult form of the silver rats that had dragged her chariot here. The Goldon coins likely had a similar carving. Meanwhile, regular coins only had a star carved into them, a common design of coins across the galaxy. She’d read about Goldon and Silvox in a history book, something about guardians who lived on the moon, supposedly having contact with the spirits of magic in ancient times. She wasn’t sure how well kept the history of this world actually was. There were a lot of what she might’ve called fairytales detailed in history.

Anyway, she was expecting twelve Silvox a month, or about twelve-thousand Haltmanns. That was from working twelve hours per weekend for two-hundred fifty Haltmanns an hour. It was nothing compared to the three Goldon an average tradesman earned for a family in a month, which was already ten-thousand Haltmanns a week. But Susie was just a child watching a store, so it’s somewhat expected. She’d have enough for the necessities and nothing more, no matter how much she dreamed of clothes shopping. At least, the school provided a free uniform set even though uniforms weren’t mandatory, so she’d have a half-decent rotation of clothing.

That is, you could call it free, or you could consider that it was certainly already part of the tuition costs, and made mandatory for everyone to purchase under the guise of being ‘included for free’ with coming to the school that you paid to get in. That was just how these supposed ancillary fees were. But tuition was handled by the Bratts already, so it wasn’t a concern. She’d get by. Probably.

And so, on weekends from then on, the snack bar and shop would be watched by a beautiful poster girl that was just as secretly cunning as the shopkeeper himself was. Said shopkeeper would have the weekends free to travel the distant beyond. How far did he go? Beyond the college town? Beyond the capital? Beyond the planet? Beyond the galaxy? Beyond this dimension?

...Gotcha! Hee-hee! Were you shocked?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haltmanns of course are based on Yen, which are close enough that you can basically say a yen is a cent, or that a hundred yen is a dollar. So a copper is ten cents, a silver is a dollar, a Silvox is ten bucks, a gold is a hundred, and a Goldon is a thousand. For further reference, Gigavolt II is priced at 8,600 million Haltmanns, twice the cost of the first-generation model.
> 
> Having copper/silver/gold coins is a common trope, including one that Kirby uses itself in a lot of minigames. They’re collectibles in Return to Dream Land and Dream Collection’s challenge stages, Drum Dash, and Blowout Blast, for example. I originally wanted to use their actual points values from the games, but they vary between each game and have awkward values to work with, like a 50/200/500 progression. 
> 
> I was also re-reading Susie’s Japanese Twitter posts during Star Allies Wave 3 DLC, and she sure likes to call herself beautiful. So, some of that sprinkled around. And actually, about an hour and a half before I posted this, the Kirby Twitter had a Shopkeeper Magolor post commenting on Pres. Parallel Susie's concept designs! And he wants Susie to come over since she's rich... Hm. Watch out, Magolor, she'll take your Gem Apples and make them into a sherbet!
> 
> Ahh, I was expecting for a bit that I would need until the 25th or 26th to upload this, but looks like we’re fine! It’s a stressful time you know; another season of anime’s coming to its end, and a new season is right around the corner!
> 
> Eh? What? That’s not a great excuse to be distracted? Oh, what a shame! How else will I be hip with the references?
> 
> For the record, Kaguya-Sama: Love is War S2 is probably my favorite anime this season. Following that is My Next Life as a Villainess, aka Otome Game Hametsu Flag/Hamefura. Third probably goes to Ascendance of a Bookworm. Tsugu Tsugumomo really surprised me with its finale! Ah, but that last one isn’t for good boys and girls. I actually watched all of Tsugu Tsugumomo at once the day the finale came out.
> 
> Ha haa… a better way to manage my time? Not binging an anime in a day? I don’t know what you mean… 
> 
> I suppose Railgun T also aired this season. Barely. Probably not for good boys and girls either. And a moment of silence for Gal & Dino and Houkago Teibou Nisshi for also falling to COVID delays, which I also mildly enjoyed. What even is the English name of that second one? Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater, I believe. What a mouthful! Is it strange I remember it’s Japanese name so well in comparison, though? Possibly!
> 
> And the greatest silence for S3 of Oregairu, aka My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU: gone before it even had a chance. I just wanted to feel… something genuine… the real thing!
> 
> By the by, I've stopped checking if the formatting ends up correct when I post to the site... because I'm super lazy and hopefully I've figured out what I need to do without double checking by the third time.
> 
> I am not as certain about the events of next chapter as I have been for these first three, so perhaps the next one might actually take a week. But hopefully not!


	4. Magic Evaluation Program

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hey, hey! Here we are and this chapter’s come out in… still roughly half a week! I know I said this one might take a week, but instead it might be the next one after this. More on that at the end. 
> 
> Heh, I’m surprised, to be honest. I got quite obsessed with PokémonCafé Mix. I’m on level 84 now, I was clearly dozens of levels the first day or two it came out, but I haven’t played much yesterday or today. I also got Sonic Generations on Steam and played that for a bit of my time. I’ve also been pulling out Pokémon Sword when I’m bored and doing Casual Online battles and wasting away hours...
> 
> Eh? I could’ve used that time to work on this story instead? Hahaaaaa, I certainly don’t know what you mean…

It was the day of the aptitude test, which would determine the distribution into classes of freshmen who hadn’t taken an entrance exam to enter the school. Susie’d spent the day before getting a job, but it’d probably be fine, considering her abilities.

Anyway, those who entered the Institution not through merit, but through status or wealth, would be tested today. But really, those that were truly wealthy and high status attended the Royal Misteen Academy instead. Those were the heirs to the family fortunes, or perhaps those who were arranged to a beneficial political marriage. They were the top brass of the top families, such as the Pompas Bratt who claimed her name as the sole Patrya child. In comparison, Mareen Institute was a mix of noble rejects, sons and daughters of the nouveau riche and wealthy businessmen lines, and commoners with impressive potential.

_ Why do I feel like I fit in both all and none of those categories at the same time?! _

During the limited time she had stayed on this planet, Susie had been continuously digging into the culture and worldview of the people to better understand and fit in. Listen in to a passing conversation here, research some books there. It seemed many parents saw sending their children to Mareen Institute as a chance for them to make connections with other families, but this wasn’t something the students seemed to realize, nor the way they viewed it themselves.

Among the mass of students, Susie was relieved she didn’t stand out in appearance. Her hair was a bit on the shinier side, but honestly that might’ve been the strangest thing about her appearance. So many students wore strange ornaments on their persons that her antennae earpieces seemed no stranger, nor her hair that flowed through her hood, which looked almost identical to a passerby she saw with a strange cloth headdress. 

Back home, she’d kept her clothes pristine, and rotated five identical sets of her office attire that she always wore at work. Here though, she was wearing the same clothing she’d involuntarily used to go ice skating with, and they were looking quite worse for wear… for her standards, that is. All her clothes always looked like they were newly purchased before now. But since she didn’t want people to think she was rich, perhaps it was for the better if they got a bit wrinkled.

In the back of her mind, she knew she could always give up with the charades if she wanted to. She could just get the Mother Computer to bring all her clothes from her old room like it’d brought her Business Suit. But she hated having things handed to her just like that. The Business Suit was her baby anyway. But clothing? She’d manage on her own! She wasn’t a spoiled rich brat! She could handle not having all that expensive clothing. Maybe.

* * *

The day started off with an evaluation on theory and history. It was all quite droll for an academic of her level. All her time at the Patrya estate had been spent reading books, and combined with the memories bestowed upon her by the Mother Computer, everything on the exam was within her knowledge, even the more difficult questions which scratched the surface of advanced topics. Though, some of the questions that made her access her implanted memories would surprise her as the answer came up and she was made conscious of them for the first time. 

_ I have to wonder how trustworthy all of this information really is. Even the knowledge Mother gave me are memories of studying and learning from this world’s materials, not actual firsthand information. Aren’t some of these things just too absurd? Plus, the so-called history documented here makes the past look so much more advanced than the society that’s here and now… I guess if I really want to know, I’ll just have to look into it myself! _

* * *

Naturally, the mathematics section of the exam was no problem either. She considered somewhat flunking the exam, because otherwise she would absolutely be placed as the top-ranked student. But it probably wasn’t too much of a problem to just have a few high grades, right? Plus, it’d be really annoying if she were placed in a class that only covered low-level information at a snail’s pace.

The results of the written portion of the placement testing were used to separate students into groups based on their knowledge. This way, classes would follow different curriculums geared towards the capabilities of the groupings. 

However, just the opposite was done for magic and other physical classes. A mix of varying skill levels was created from the evaluations, so that the task of instructing beginners was divided into a manageable chunk for every instructor. Meanwhile, more advanced students of magic could simply be given instructions on how to further improve themselves. 

Naturally, many talented students preferred classes like this, where they could tell that they were, in fact, above average. ...Though a handful may complain instead that it felt like instructors weren’t paying them the attention they deserved. Regardless, it was important to try and raise up those with lesser capabilities to be able to use some semblance of magic, and even for those incapable of magic to be experienced with the phenomena that they would encounter throughout their lives.

And on that note, the physical assessment came as breaktime after the written portion ended.

Susie liked to believe she was healthy and fit. In fact, everyday, she spent quite a bit of time exercising, such as by running on a treadmill. Her exercise regimen was monitored by an H.W.C. fitness trainer too.

But that was quite nothing compared to the physical capabilities of lifeforms on this planet. In her world of technology, work was done by machines, not people. Cars, locomotives, and various other automobiles transported people around. Heavy objects were lifted by cranes. Weapons were operated simply by pointing them. Compared to the denizens of this school, who were all above average amongst a world already much more dependent on one’s own power, she was but paltry. 

So, she’d done some brainstorming the night before regarding the matter. In the end, she decided not to do anything about her physical strength. After all, there were knights and there were mages, and she wasn’t a knight. It’s not like it’d be weird to see a frail girl with strong magic in a school like this. After all, she was light and delicate–and needless to say–an unmatched beauty. But that also meant she would totally cheat–  _ enhance _ … She would totally enhance her running speed. After all, she was light! And fit! Okay? You get it? So, she had strapped a transporter to her back; one of those helicopter lifts often used to carry heavy cargo for the HWC.

Just because it’s used for heavy cargo doesn’t mean it can’t be used for light loads too! Don’t misunderstand! 

The tiniest modification of reversing the blades let the transporter push her instead of pulling her. Strapped to her back, it’d be able to blow her forward. It was completely fair! After all, she was from a technological world, so she should have technology to compensate! And in fact, it really was totally fair, as magic was considered fair play when measuring your ability to travel long distances. She was, after all, using technology as a substitute for magic in the first place. Still, she thought it better if she hid the transporter with cloaking magic.

And so the physical assessments came, and she performed them all as directed, giving herself a little boost here and there in case otherwise there could ever be any confusion that she was anything but perfectly fit. Of course, when she did, she had to make sure she didn’t overdo it, so she carefully paid attention to the student that went before her and tried to match them whenever.

After all, she was definitely just your run-of-the-mill native to this magic planet, not at all from another highly advanced society backed by some all-powerful machine. Certainly not.

* * *

And then, most importantly, came the magic test. The easiest thing to screw up due to her estranged sensibilities. Magic could, in truth, describe many things, but if you saw it as the common idea of being able to project change on your surroundings without physical contact, then only a fraction of people could actually use magic in this ‘world of magic’. And only a fraction of those people really had magic that could be described as ‘not totally lame’. Totally lame like herself, actually. Without the Mother Computer, even after honing the skill from childhood, she might’ve only been able to make herself a glass of water or a gust of breeze.

But she wasn’t planning on limiting herself to something so boring. And it would be awfully strange if she demonstrated less capabilities than she was known to have in her ‘past’ as a Patrya, so really, trying to flunk this examination wasn’t that great of an idea. 

So, she’d once again carefully watched the other students, and emulated perfectly their magic. A sizzle of fire here, a sprinkle of ice there, a spark of lightning around. Nothing flashy, nothing absurd. Alright! Nothing bad happened!

...Whispering. There was quite a bit of whispering. What were they saying?

_ “Hey, another student that can use more than one element? I’ve heard Ice and Water together aren’t that uncommon, but…” _

_ “Where’s the wand? Did you see a wand when that fireball shot out? Shouldn’t only elemental creatures be able to do that?” _

_ “How do you think she gets her hair that shiny? Do you think I should ask her?” _

A wand? Multiple elements? 

Oh… Oops.

Magic wands help focus your magic into a specific form and act as a channel for magic power to draw out from a user. Without one, those without absolute, precise control often wasted away their power into a useless form. But she had, without anything to focus her power through, shot out magic as strong as the student before her.

_ Oh my, what a simple thing to forget. Just because the student I was watching was a bit above average… Ack, this will be annoying if people start pestering me about it. _

The examinations proceeded on, and whispers lightly spread.

* * *

_ What an interesting fellow! Haha! _

The ball-riding jester stood alone in the empty school field, where the magic examination had taken place earlier. He was Marx, of the Planet Popstar. It was a measly and remote star at the edge of the galaxy, overlooked by many. 

It was the star of miracles, at the edge of many galaxies. 

It was the center of the universe. The home to the legendary people of the heavenly sky. The rumored race that even in the modern world, was still one with ancient, lost arts of magic. A race that lived as the embodiments of miracles.

Marx… was not one of the miracles. He lived mischievously on the surface of the planet, ignorant to the floating kingdoms above the clouds. 

He had, once. But life wasn’t so simple. All anyone should ever want in life is to dream and to eat. Yet eventually, he wanted more. He wanted to rule. So he sought power… Power to rule Pop Star. 

His ambition brought him to the heavens. And there, through the muffled whispers of a distant traveler, he became aware of ancient power beyond even the skies and their miracles. A wish brought by the power of the stars themselves. He wouldn’t have just a miracle from the skies anymore, he wanted a wish from the galaxy itself. That traveler who spoke of rediscovering such lost power that would overshadow even the magic race of the skies… Marx would follow him to the ends of the galaxy.

The caped traveler had befriended the sky’s master of magic, and was a magician himself. (Coincidentally, the sky’s magician was  _ also _ a caped man. But Marx found that the only reason wizards wore capes was because they looked cool.) On the last day that the caped traveler stayed in the floating kingdoms, the royalty commissioned paintings of the two magicians, and the traveler was quite impressed with their quality, so as a favor to the artist, he’d brought them along with him. And Marx followed along.

Following the wizard, Marx had traveled the galaxy, honing his power and learning skills and tricks, waiting to see just what else could surprise him.

And unexpectedly, here on this dingy planet where he’d expected nothing of use, there was this girl. Marx had been all but ready to spend his time here honing his pranks instead of his power. But that girl had a secret. He didn’t know what that might be, and yet the girl seemed to know something about him as well. Could she tell there was something more to him?

Ever since the physical evaluation started, the girl hadn’t stopped staring at him. It hadn’t taken him long to figure out the girl was copying his every display. What was this? A challenge? Something else? Hard as he tried, the girl would step up after, and barely miss his time or measurement. He felt the way magic gathered at her back as she sped around the track, then dissipated as she overtook his pace. She would alternate between bursts of magic speed and regular travel. And then were the events where she’d use no magic at all, offering up a subpar score. No matter the way he looked at it though, it didn’t seem like she was doing anything but feigning the limits of her ability.

But when she really shone was when she’d demonstrated magic. Not a hint of effort was spent in her casting of magic, though the output she demonstrated was nothing special. Furthermore, there was something… off to it, but he couldn’t say what. Was it really the magic this planet used?

That girl had some sort of power. How did she get that way? Was she stronger than he was? No way! He came to this planet with the expectation that, if he so wanted, he could take rule of the entire star, the caped traveler aside. He needed to be the strongest. Whatever power she’d found… he wanted it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was thinking of holding this chapter back to Monday, I wasn’t really satisfied with it. However, as I looked through it today, I realized it wasn’t something I could figure out how to improve, and I decided instead of spending ‘til Monday hoping to figure out how to improve this chapter, I’d just post it now and give extra time to the next chapter.
> 
> Really, this chapter is basically the final stopgap before Susie attends school; I planned from the start to use the aptitude test to explain anything I wanted to establish or clarify but didn’t get a chance to before Susie entered school.
> 
> Chapter 1 was twice as long to help carry along the introduction, but now after four chapters Susie will finally start with the thing she’s supposed to be doing. So now you could say this is the True end of the introduction. 
> 
> So, it’s already Friday night, will the next chapter come Monday night? Dunno. It’s going along smoothly unlike this chapter, but maybe it won’t see the light ‘til Thursday. After all, I am a master procrastinator. Plus, while it’s going smoothly, I’m usually further along by the time I post the previous chapter. 
> 
> Speaking of, along with all those games, I also spent a chunk of my time making this silly video of Hyness and Void but it's basically just images and gameplay footage on some music track:
> 
> https://youtu.be/caJUgUJ_34U
> 
> And this terrible drawing of Claycia:
> 
> https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/223591684968022016/726296569229606962/Claycia_Color_V2.png


	5. Loveless Classroom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Well, this one took a week, but we’re back in business! Did I use that week well?
> 
> …
> 
> In other news, ‘Kaguya-Sama: Love is War’ and ‘Princess Connect: Re-Dive!’ ended in the week. Very cool! Now I await the summer anime season! I haven’t checked what’s airing besides Oregairu S3, but it’s still a week or two away ‘til most things air, so oh well! I’ve also been delaying watching other shows that aren’t currently airing. I’ve been planning to watch Non Non Biyori and Squid Girl… But maybe it’s a good thing I’ve been delaying on that when it comes to writing this story…

Finally, the aptitude test was done and over with, and now, the day after, students were picking up school and course materials. She wasn’t relieved for the reason most students might be; it wasn’t like she loathed exams and was glad they were over. She wasn’t excited about silly things like course outlines either. She was excited for the school uniforms.

Each student received two winter and two summer uniforms, as well as two sets of PE outfits and a set of mage’s robes. All for ‘free’. _Milk those Bratts for every copper of incidental fees. After all, they didn’t give me a single scrap of metal to cover living expenses!_

Finally, she had a decent amount of clothing! Honestly, the best part about clothes was buying new ones. It didn’t really matter if she ended up not liking them afterwards. Just the experience of owning and trying on something new was the best part. That was why her wardrobe back home was filled to the brim, even though she’d never worn most of it more than once. 

_...It’s not wasteful, it’s a collection! A hobby! Primitive people collect_ rocks _! Cultured people collect art, and well-made clothes are works of art themselves!_

The distributed school materials piled up to a bloated, unreasonable degree that she had to make multiple trips back to her room. She could’ve stored it all in her dimensional workspace, but she was still working out the kinks on how to output only a single item at a time. Besides, she could handle carrying a few things herself. No need to be so over-reliant on it when she wasn’t some inferior, helpless lifeform.

But enough of that. Time for uniforms! With all her course materials put away, she changed into the school uniform and placed her regular clothing in storage. Standing in front of a full-body mirror, she twisted and turned, studying the way she looked in the outfit.

 _Lookin’ good, Sue!_ She thought, pointing at her reflection.

With all these different outfits, she was going to be here all day…

 _You go, girl! How can you_ not _be popular looking_ this _good?_

* * *

When she went to check the freshmen bulletin board that afternoon, the class lists had been posted. Susie had been placed in Class A, if there had ever been any doubt.

Tomorrow was technically the first day of class, but it would basically just be a short semester overview and the students introducing themselves, following the entrance ceremony in the morning. After that was the weekend, so classes really began at the start of next week.

The entrance ceremony came and went, with nothing about it really interesting Susie. The audience was filled with students, along with a handful of parents. Most families couldn’t afford to travel to the school simply for a year’s-start assembly, and others thought it was unnecessary to attend after the long process of choosing the right school had already passed. Or, because it was a bad look for people of their status to show up at MareenI rather than RMA which also opened at the same time. It was just a matter of the status of the two schools though, it wasn’t as if students sent to the Royal Academy were loved more by their—

It was _absolutely_ because parents sent the children they loved more to RMA.

There were certainly also those who just didn’t love their children in the first place to care about coming regardless. Susie’s distant, distant, _super_ -distant family of Bratts, for example. 

Following the assembly, the teachers led their students to their homerooms. After the stuffy ceremony where they sat silently, they could finally socialize now.

This was it. This was the moment Susie had been waiting for. 

She went along with being sent to this planet in the hopes that coming here could free her to make friends.

She just had to take the step.

Past anxieties gathered like a dark sea within her, conflicting with her newly forged hope. Friendless, and also born to fame and wealth, Susie, for a long, long time, continuously stood in her father’s shadow, believing someday a new life would come, and finally escaped. And now, she has one feeling. One wish. One thought… What would happen to her now? Would her new life be as lonely as the last, or would she be able to find friends? Within her heart, she’d begun to hope: by her own hands, she’ll unite the stars. This time, with friends!

“Alright!” She jumped from her seat with confidence, pumping her fist.

One by one, conversations died away as eyes turned to her.

“Um.”

...

“Please settle down now, everyone.” The teacher directed attention to herself, and all the students went to their seats. “I am Claycia of the Seventopia system, and I will be your class A homeroom teacher, for this year and maybe the next. So, if you want me as your teacher next year as well, you better keep those Class A grades up!”

The teacher had a strangely homely look to her, wearing a thick knit sweater and scarf like she was your aunt or grandma. She seemed more like an art teacher than a magic teacher. Though, the idea that she really was an artist was kind of scary. After all, father always said: “You can dream all you want and subjugate who you please, but never mess with a master of the arts.”

She always wondered about all the paintings he had of himself.

And Seventopia, huh? She _might’ve_ heard of a place like that before. Regardless, the fact that she was from a different planet was sure to force even the upper class children to take her seriously.

“Now then, class, why don’t we all get acquainted as well? Tell us something interesting about yourself! Hobbies, goals, whatever you want!” The teacher pointed at a boy at the end of the front row. “Let’s start from the front with you.”

“O-okay. I was nominated by my village to go on a journey, a-and that’s how I got here. O-oh! My name is…”

_Boooriiiiiiing…_

The stuttering spider sang a snoozefest of a soliloquy such that Susie’s sanity would surely succumb should she see the self-introductions through.

_That Como sure can weave a long tale, though it’s all a bit strung together._

Eventually, the teacher stopped him from prattling on and other students followed with quicker introductions, still filled with origins, hobbies, talents, and goals. Susie’s mind drifted away as the class of thirty introduced themselves one by one.

_No, focus, focus!_

How would she make friends if she didn’t listen to anyone’s introductions? She’d never paid much attention to lower lifeforms in her old life, or anyone for that matter, if she didn’t know beforehand that they were important or impressive people. Even then, those types she met through appointments and meetings, where Susie could take her time to study up and research the client or business partner beforehand.

But paying attention now was an absolute necessity if she wanted to make friends. She needed to recognize her classmates, even if she had to memorize their appearance and introduction. It was especially important for the ones that were the same species; it certainly wouldn’t do to mistake one Bugzzy for another.

She eventually noticed some of her classmates seemed really nervous as they introduced themselves, often sneaking glances at her only to immediately look away. Hm, these were kids after all, not like everyone managed a company like she used to. A bit of shyness speaking to a new class must’ve been normal.

The class held a ratio of three girls for every two boys. That was only bound to happen in this planet’s culture and society, where boys were more inclined to physical tasks rather than academics. The balance of males and females might’ve been better in RMA, which would be the first choice of most children. A greater number of girls would be leftover and end up in MareenI.

“Hey, hey, hey! My name is Marx, of Pop Star, aspiring to be the ultimate jester! I know a lot of ball tricks, and being a clown is my hobby. As for my goals, well, I want to control Pop Star!”

 _What an interesting fellow, hmm…_ Susie thought. The clown who’d given such a strangely unique self-introduction had certainly caught her attention. Wasn’t he just a bit familiar looking? ...No, she couldn’t recall where she’d seen him before. 

Susie certainly did not recall him to be the one she’d been eyeing at the evaluation, nor did she notice the soul-piercing gaze Marx had set upon her now.

Introductions progressed as she continued to observe the presenting classmates like they were test subjects, causing many of them extreme discomfort, until eventually it was her turn.

“My name is Susie, exec— er, just your everyday girl next door. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I enjoy playing music and eating desserts. I’m not particularly talented, but I hope you’ll have me all the same.”

A collective voice screamed out in the minds of the other students.

_Everyday girl? No way, not a chance!_

A girl who had magic as powerful as any of them, and had simply shot it from her hands like nothing. A girl who easily matched an offworlder physically, but only when she wanted to. Was she mocking them? Was she trying to be humble? Where did she come from? What was her goal? Rumors had been spreading about her since the evaluations had ended. 

Acting was not Susie’s strong suit. Everyone had seen right through her performance at the aptitude test. And that was even after her inner stubbornness and pride had led her to match students whose performances were already above average. Plus, she hadn’t given a noble house’s name, but what kind of commoner got to experience music or sweets?

Unfortunately, Susie was none the wiser to her absolute failure of a guise.

* * *

After introductions ended, Ms. Claycia moved on to orientation, covering key points including the school’s layout and rules, as well as giving an outline on the course itself. The first lesson would start after the weekend. And with that, she dismissed class. It was only a half-day, so Claycia suggested any students who hadn’t already done so should go and buy any school supplies they still needed.

Well, she had to go to work tomorrow, and she didn’t have a lot of money anyway. The earnings from last week would be spent on some necessities (mostly soap, which was way expensive here!), so she should probably save up money for now. As much as she wanted to buy some deodorant and perfume. Oh well, another time.

As she stood from her seat, a couple of boys came over to her.

“Hey, Susie! Do you want to come see the shops with me?”

“Nah, I know the best shops in town! Come with?”

“I can totally get a discount! Come with me!”

Whoa, a Bugzzy, Bonkers, and Mr. Floaty? Yikes! Those species always pick a fight...

...Since when were boys so interested in shopping? Huh?

They’re not trying to fight? Why would they come over to her then?

Did that mean… she was popular? ...With the boys? 

A light blush crawled up her cheeks, which seemed to excite the group in front of her.

Well, she _was_ a charming person after all. So charming you’d probably think she belonged on TV (And she _had_ been on TV). And honestly, she was right about that. Yet, she’d never been popular at school. No one had ever approached her. Was it the stuffier atmosphere of her environment in her old world? Would it’ve been like that if she’d ended up at the Royal Academy instead, full of pompous brats too stuck up to make talk and date like normal children? Or was it once again due to the infamy of her father’s name? Was she too intimidating to approach as a Haltmann?

Or maybe this world had different standards for beauty. Maybe her features were more exotic here, which made her even more desirable, or maybe since this world was so much less developed, they had lower standar—

_No! That’s absolutely not the reason! Absolutely not!_

Well, whatever the reason was, it seemed she was popular!

...Um.

Was that good?

She glanced one after another at the boys.

A Bugzzy.

A Bonkers.

Mr. Floaty.

Eugh, they all looked so… _primitive_. And brutish. Making friends was fine, but… This wasn’t the kind of attention she wanted!

Contrary to her vile internal reaction, she politely shook her head.

“I’m terribly sorry, but I’ve already done all my shopping.”

Apparently not expecting that, the group started stuttering sorry excuses on why she should accompany them regardless. 

“Take a hint and settle down, won’t ya?” Some dignified-looking girl admonished the group and scattered them. Susie nodded in thanks and hurriedly left to the dorms.

_That’s right, what did I say? Looking good, looking popular! That’s me! Awesome!_

Everyone who saw the strange expression on the face of the girl walking by quickly turned away.

_But no, I’m not trying to find a suitor! I’m just trying to get some friends!_

Dammit! She totally wanted to be popular, but not in that way! Ugh! What was she supposed to do?

_I mean, being popular that way certainly is better than being avoided all the time like I used to be, so maybe this isn’t so bad._

But what was that supposed to mean for her? She didn’t have any experience making friends, much less talking to boys. She wasn’t trying to find a boyfriend, so should she make it clear she wasn’t looking? But if she still had no luck making friends and made it out that she wasn’t interested in dating either, would that mean everyone would ignore her again? 

Then should she just leave it and let be? She didn’t have to say specifically she wasn’t interested, she could just play clueless and let the boys hang with her if they tried. Ahh, but what if the boys made it really obvious they were asking her out and not just hanging around? Would they be mad if she just ignored it and pretended not to realize, only to find out later she had no intention of dating them? Wait, what if the girls got mad that all the boys were swarming to her? She didn’t want to only have male friends, that’d be so lame! And weird! What was she, the evil queen who bewitched the kingdom?!

Then what? Was she to change her mind and find a boyfriend after all? But the boys were all so… _gross…_

_Well, that Marx guy wasn’t so bad, right?_

_I mean, he’s a clown though._

_A ball-riding pierrot._

_And he’s short._

He was better than the rest at least… right?

…

_*Bang bang bang bang bang!*_

Susie’s classmates later found her in the hallway from the sound of her repeatedly slamming her head against the wall in frustration.

* * *

“Why is everything so stupid…” Susie whined into her pillow. How was such a simple matter getting to her? She was Susie! Not any old simpleton! Didn’t she say she would make it on her own? How was she supposed to do that if she got all flustered on the first day over a couple of boys?! Dammit! So what if things didn’t go her way? She could figure this out herself… no matter how much she wanted to rush to her mother and ask for advice.

I am the Mother Computer: Star Dream.> Describe your issue.>

“Wha–No! Not you!” Susie screamed.

Did you not wish for mother’s intuition?>

“I meant my real mo—Actually, I meant my father! Curse your stupid memories!”

Beep boop.>

“Gaahhhh!” She growled. What an annoying machine!

…

Hopefully her neighbors were out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for the kudos and comments! With these 5 chapters, I think we’ve reached the end of the first… uh… chapter. Wait. The first… super-chapter with 5 chapters? The first… chapter with 5 sub-chapters?  
> Parts. Let’s call them parts. With this first part being the introduction leading up to Susie finally being in school. But how long will someone like Susie stay in school? Hm.  
> And let's make it clear, Susie isn’t getting a boyfriend.


	6. Friends and the Sound of Jealous Murmurs

Making her way to the classroom, Susie was in a good mood when classes started up. She’d earned her three Silvox at the Shoppe the day before, and Shopkeep even let her take home the extra hot dogs and bone-with-meats that hadn’t sold. So now her dimensional workshop was full of meat. The space there was meant to preserve and store goods and machinery, Mother had explained. So she shoved it full of hot dogs and meat. Certainly what Mother intended. 

They’d already been sitting under the Shoppe’s heating lamp the entire day though.

It’s not like she couldn’t have built a fridge herself anyway, so it wasn’t that she was relying on Mother for something she couldn’t otherwise do. Plus, she’d built and configured a programmable remote controller to properly select and access goods stored, so it wasn’t like she hadn’t worked on it herself.

The moment she stepped into the classroom, however, she was surrounded.

“Good morning, Susie!”

“How was your day yesterday?”

“Hey, can we sit together at lunch?”

Eek, she couldn’t get to her seat! What were they, Room Guarders?

This was honestly inevitable. Susie was cute, and she had to be smart considering she was in Class A. Yet she was also magically powerful and physically fit. The way she talked was oh-so polite, and she was also humble enough to try and hide it all, even if she was terrible at it. But that just made her all the more endearing to the boys in her class.

There were also rumors that she was actually from a rich noble house. She had taken the aptitude test, after all, which was never required for laypeople, who could only enter by merit, so the school would already know their capabilities through a full entrance exam that determined their admittance and scholarship.

In just a few years time, all of them would be fully grown members of society, and within the top minds of MareenI freshmen, the newfound hopeful yearnings of children mixed with their forethinking wiles led them blindly chasing their idea of love and their future.

“Again with all this? Geez, I’d sure wanna deal with a bunch of bothers like you… not.” It was the dignified looking girl again, who felt like a sample student body president. The boys fidgeted amongst themselves, eventually deciding to disperse.

_Maybe I’ll just call her President. It’s not like I’m not used to doing that anyway._

“Thank you kindly. I’m not much experienced with… um… boys.” She gave a light bow as she thanked the girl.

“No problem,” the president smiled in response.

_Wait, this girl! She’s helped me twice now! Are we friends?! We totally are! Yippee!! My first friend in this world!_

_...And ever._

The boys around the class heard Susie’s admission, and many decided to lay off in fear of intimidating her. Some, though, thought that this was their chance to put their charms to work instead.

Pfft.

* * *

Only the theory classes had started up in the first week. Along with the theory, they had to go over some basic safety standards and rules regarding physical and magical activities. After all, they couldn’t just be thrown into the ring right off the bat.

For Susie, classes were a walk in the park. Hailing from a far more advanced civilization, where she was still a prodigy amongst prodigies, there was never any doubt as to her capabilities in this world. Why was this civilization so far behind compared to hers? Were they just an inferior people, or was the use of magic supplementing their need for advancement? Or was there something else beyond it all?

Her knowledge gained from Mother and the ancient being told her even some things the teacher claimed were inaccurate. Still, she didn’t bother correcting her, and simply coasted through the week until the last day, when a group of girls approached her.

“Ms. Susie. We’d like to have a _talk_ with you, in private.” The one who spoke was Drawcia, born from a painting by a lord in a far-off magical land. Susie leapt excitedly from her seat; they were asking to hang out with her! Score! Friends! Hee!

“It’s my pleasure! Oh, where shall we meet? How about my room? It’s quite spacious!” 

“Uhh, okay?” Drawcia hesitated now from her previous aggression. Did this girl misunderstand her?

The three of them were sisters who, at first glance, seemed like a noblewoman and her followers. Drawcia, witch of the canvas. Paintra, sorceress from the Sky, and Vividria, an artist with a colorful ♥ who got in on a full scholarship. 

Drawcia and Paintra were once mad and cruel, seeking revenge upon the living world that had granted them their cursed existence. But through some sort of… mischief, they’d been reunited, and here at MareenI, they’d even found Vividria, who they were now mentoring to become worthy of being a boss. Maybe one day even a final boss!

What that meant exactly wasn’t important. Drawcia, however, would always help out her little sisters. And so the three now stuck together all the time.

“Hey sis, I thought all the rooms here were the same size. How can hers be more spacious?” Vividria scratched her head with her brush.

“Tch. Who knows. It’ll be interesting to see her place at least,” Paintra muttered.

“Indeed. Let’s show that con artist her place!” Drawcia declared.

“Yea!”

Drawcia hated people like Susie. She’d heard about the girl’s prowess at the aptitude test. Being powerful was fine, but Susie just oozed insincerity and haphazardness in the way she regarded others. Though the girl had a polite facade, Drawcia could see the way she evaluated and judged everyone’s worth inside. She was absolutely the kind to use you when she needed you and abandon you once she lost interest. The kind of person who held a sense of superiority within themselves and saw others beneath her. It was evident in the way she played clueless and weak, especially with boys around, despite her rumored power and evident intellect.

Susie was a girl with the power and ability to live life the way she wanted. That wasn’t something Drawcia and her sister had for most of their lives, until their hatred of the world birthed them once more. Yet here was Susie, playing games with other people and manipulating the school.

Unforgivable! She, the witch of the canvas, would set straight this sordid being!

Paintra may have held the same view as Drawcia, but after being reunited with her, she didn’t really care for the business of others, as long as she was with her big sister. 

Meanwhile, Vividria had absolutely no idea what was going on and just wanted to make her sisters happy.

* * *

A knock on her door and Susie jumped to open it.

“Welcome! Please, come in!” She’d never had friends over before. This was so exciting!

...And nerve-wracking! What now, what now?! Have them sit, of course!

…She only had one chair.

_Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic…_

The bed? Was it weird to ask them to sit on the bed? Especially if she then sat on the chair facing them, right? Yea, that looked weird in her head, so maybe she should sit on the bed too? The bed totally wasn’t long enough for that! She couldn’t just make them stand! Ack, she’d just have to find some chairs!

She quickly bowed her head.

“My apologies, I’ve completely forgotten to arrange any seating. I’ll return with some chairs immediately!” She zoomed out the door like she was about to explode.

…

“Hmph, I thought she was more calm and collected than that.” Drawcia muttered.

Vividria agreed. “She seems like kind of a mess. I get what she meant by spacious though.”

The room was the same as any other dorm room, but it felt oddly roomy… because it was absolutely empty. Not a single treasure chest in sight to store her things, not a decoration on the wall or flower on the desk or even a stuffed toy on her bed. You could barely tell someone was actively living here.

“The damn art studio I rotted in had more stuff than this even after it was cleared out…” Paintra muttered in a stunned voice. Despite just being born anew recently, she’d already gathered more possessions from that studio and elsewhere into her current room than this. 

Drawcia floated over to the armoire and yanked it open.

“H-hey, shouldn’t we ask before looking through her stuff?” Vividria asked. Paintra just rolled her eyes at the question and turned to inspect the writing table.

“...Her stuff? There’s nothing in here but the school uniforms!” Drawcia exclaimed, moving aside to show her sisters. She then reached down to the drawer, yanking it open as well.

“H-hey! Seriously, isn’t this an invasion of—“

“It’s empty! There’s… a single comb in this damned drawer!” Vividria apprehensively circled the center of the room murmuring, and Drawcia shut the upper drawer, pulling open the bottom one to find it similarly empty. Did this girl seriously have no possessions?

“Ugh, what in the world?” Drawcia quickly shut the armoire at the sudden shout, turning to find Paintra grimacing over Susie’s desk, dropping a cloth back onto the desk.

“What is it?”

The two floated over, and Paintra lifted the cloth up again.

“Wh-wha?”

Underneath was a paper plate with a single bone from a drumstick shattered to pieces, and a half eaten hot dog. The hot dog looked dry and, on closer inspection, smelled a bit foul. The drumstick was long picked clean of any meat, and the bone marrow had been sucked dry as well.

“She… she doesn’t eat like this, does she? That’s awful!” Vividria cried out, tears welling in her eyes. Paintra turned away, sounding a low hum of discomfort.

* * *

Susie returned with a spare pair of chairs from the atrium. The artists had returned the room to the way it was and settled down. Susie’d also calmed down herself. After all, she was Susie, the calm and cool secretary, not a stuttering, nervous little girl! If she couldn’t handle this, she’d just have to treat it like she was entertaining a business partner in a meeting.

“Sorry I took so long, please have a seat!” She arranged the chairs together in a line facing the bed. She stood to the side, her hands neatly tucked together in front of her. The three took to the seats as she wondered what to do next.

_Come on, Sue, calm down. Just like being a secretary. Pour them a drink!_

“Would you ladies like a cup of coff– Oh, well, um.” She twiddled her thumbs.

“I don’t have coffee, actually. I can… offer you some tap water?” No one spoke, so she looked around with her hands raised as if to reach for something.

“That is… actually, I don’t have cups either. Um. Well… Apologies.” Dammit! Why hadn’t she done anything to prepare for them coming over?! All she did was fidget in her chair! Her one single chair that they couldn’t all sit in! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

“That’s quite alright, Ms. Susie. We’re the ones imposing on you.” Drawcia paused to collect her thoughts. Susie was standing stiffly in front of her like a maid, or maybe more appropriately, like a secretary at a company in far-off lands. “Won’t you take a seat? There are some things I’d like to ask you.”

“Oh, yes, of course.” Susie sat on the bed. “What is it?”

“You are a noble in these lands, yes? After all, you were accepted into this school without taking the entrance exam.”

 _Well, it was never so hard to figure out, was it?_ Susie thought. It wasn’t something she could deny without offering an alternate reason for her acceptance, and what kind of friend would she be if she lied to them?

“Yes, I do have a noble name, in truth. But I’ve been forbidden from using it. After my mother’s passing, a distant relative claimed control of my household and sent me here, telling me I’m not to return and sully his daughter’s image.”

Drawcia didn’t respond, fury rising up within her once more, but for another.

“You were… abandoned, then.” Paintra hissed. “You’re pretty strong, right? Good with magic?”

“Ah, well, not particularly! I’m only as good as the others in Class A! It was just… a good day on the evaluation, that’s all!”

What an idiot. Did this girl seriously think she was fooling anybody with that? With how many rumors there were about this girl, she expected something more to it. But this girl didn’t sound like she was rubbing it in. She just sounded like a fool.

Hm, what was the reason she held back her power, then? Was she scared of making a fuss here? Or getting into trouble with that family of hers?

“Of course,” Paintra chuckled. “ _Totally_ normal performance for a _good day_.”

“Yes! Of course! Haha,” Susie affirmed.

“...”

Drawcia, to be more direct, asked her next question.

“So, the boys all seem to have taken a liking to you. That could be quite useful, don’t you think?”

Susie nodded fervently. Oh? Did she so easily agree that–

“They totally have! It’s so creepy! Boys are gross! I’ve never casually talked to any boys before! I barely talked with my father! But it feels rude to tell them to back off! It’s so annoying!”

“No kidding? Huh.” Well, that wasn’t what she expected. So, this… vagrant girl was just totally clueless on how to deal with people? She felt foolish that she’d ever suspected her of anything malicious.

No, this girl wasn’t like the lord that had painted and abandoned her long ago… nor the so-called goddess of Pop Star who puppeteered and controlled her subjects. How could she have ever mistaken them? Maybe it was just because they had similar voices.

With that, any remnant doubts were gone, and their original reason for engaging Susie was moot. But since they were somehow in her room with the pretense of a friendly visit, it’d be rude to just suddenly leave. So, she supposed she’d make some idle talk.

“Well then, do you have any plans tomorrow?”

“Oh yes, I’m afraid I’ll have work tomorrow. I work every weekend since I’m currently coinless, and my family didn’t leave me anything before sending me away. Speaking of which, I’ll finally have enough to buy some deodorant tomorrow, so I need to remember to go shopping!”

Seriously? This girl really liked to share, didn’t she? So quick to tell them so much about her, so quick to invite them over to her home alone when they’d had every intention of beating her face into a work of art. How cruel of her family to rob her blind and throw her away… this lost child could never make it on her own! How harsh this real world was… but that wasn’t something she was unfamiliar with.

This utterly naïve girl, so cheerful at the idea of being able to afford deodorant of all things… They were at their limits. Paintra was red in the face with a scowl, Vividria was quietly trembling in her seat, and she herself could only barely maintain a facade of composure.

What a farce. It was time to leave.

“We mustn't trouble you longer. Please excuse us.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all! Please feel free to stay longer.”

“I must decline, but there’ll be many more chances for us to meet at this school. Thank you for letting us come over.”

“Of course!”

Susie sent them off cheerfully as they returned to their rooms.

“Alright! First week and I’ve already had friends over! That’s a personal best! Let’s go!”

Susie celebrated in her dorm, unaware of the silent melancholy the artists shared as they flitted home.

_Grawrr!_

“Oh, look who came fluttering back again.” A Sphere Doomer pathetically slinked through the open window. Susie huffed and lifted the cloth from her table. The Doomer prodded at the hot dog before devouring it. After a few chews, it whined in complaint.

“Hmph! That’ll teach you not to be picky with your food!” Susie crossed her arms and flipped her hair to the side. “But, I’m feeling generous right now, so I suppose I can throw you a bone.” She reached into her pocket and her RemoCon expanded in her hand. With a few button presses, a bone wrapped in meat appeared from the air, and before it could drop, the Doomer swooped in and caught it.

“Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?” Susie cooingly as she scritched its chin. “Not you! Not you, you stupid bird!”

The stupid bird didn’t dare disagree.

* * *

The second week had begun, and Susie was in the classroom during break.

“H–hey, Susie? Could I talk to you for a bit?”

“Oh, of course, Ms. Vividria!” Susie rushed over to the artist, who pulled out a small, shiny gift bag.

“My sis gave this to me, but I dunno if it’s really, uh, _me_ , you know? S–so I was wondering if you’d like it?”

“Ooh! For me?” For it to be in such a gaudy bag, it had to have been expensive! “Thank you so much! What’s inside?”

“Oh, it’s… um, perfume, yea! D-don’t take it out here!” Susie peaked in the bag, and—was that deodorant?! There were a whole bunch of things in here!

…There was no way this was something her sister just gave her. 

“Oh Vividria…” Susie inched closer, and the artist had half a mind to flee as fast as possible. Before she could, Susie tightly embraced her.

“Eek! Stop that… let me go! Hey!” Vividria turned red from embarrassment as she struggled to break out of Susie’s forceful hug.

Envious gazes surrounded the two as they made a spectacle in class.

Susie wasn’t sure why, but more and more of her classmates would give her little gifts here and there as the days progressed, usually sweets. It all seemed quite odd, but she happily accepted the gifts all the same. After all, she loved sweets!

However, to the disappointment of all her classmates, she hadn’t so much as touched anyone else.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like playing around with the models, so here's the hugging scene! Except with like none of the props in the scene like desks or the gift bag! *Cough* Who needs that, am I right?
> 
> Strange, it seems word count-wise this is just barely longer than all the other chapters outside of chapter 1, but it feels so short when I read it? Maybe it's the pacing? Hm... Well, anyway...
> 
> My summer classes start today :(  
> So maybe I'll end up having to go once a week. Or maybe the chapters will be shorter instead.
> 
> I've also been watching Non Non Biyori. What a great show. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when I've seen it all.


	7. VS. Marx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey! The new season of anime has started! Oregairu’s third season is here! Finally, I can watch something genuine. Besides that, there’s The God of High School, which a lot of people seem to be excited about. Not sure if it’s my thing yet. I’m also really excited about The Misfit of Demon King Academy. It’s always fun to watch a power trip once in a while. That’s basically what this story is too, after all. The anime’s by Silver Link, who did Bofuri and Hametsu Flag the last two seasons as well, so it’s not likely just some badly made Mary Sue story. Also giving Lapis Re:LiGHTS a watch, got no real impression of it from the first episode yet though.

Today marked the first day of physical education.

“Alright! Are you all excited for some PE?” Apparently Claycia also taught their practical class. 

You’d think that for classes like these, you’d get some sort of armor or something? Safety gear? Oh well, guess not. ‘They don’t have the budget for that, silly!’ was Claycia’s response. RMA may have had the budget, but all students here could do was bring their own gear. A lot of students seemed confident enough in their abilities to disregard protective clothing, anyway. Susie personally couldn’t imagine fighting without her Business Suit. But here she was too, with nothing but a wand in her hand sitting in the field with her class.

“It’s all well and good to start off with a refresher of the fundamentals, but I think that would bore you all to tears, wouldn’t it?” Ms. Claycia spoke. “So, why don’t we start off with an exhibition match? A spar of sorts! Any volunteers? People who’ve actually fought before, please stand!”

Several students stood at Claycia’s command.

“Good! Very good, then which of you would like to volunteer?”

The standing group all glanced at each other, none willing to make the first move. Claycia contemplatively tapped her cheek, about to pick someone herself.

“Heehee! I’ll enter the arena!” Marx, the jester from Pop Star, bounded forward.

“Ooh, Marx, isn’t it? Why don’t you pick your opponent?”

Marx’s eyes roamed the student body like a predator… or perhaps more like a deranged lunatic. Had his smile always seemed so sinister? Everyone averted their gazes as Marx looked their way. They’d all seen or heard of his ability during the aptitude test. Marx’s eyes continued to roam, until finally they settled, and Marx pointed at one student.

“Hey hey! Come play with me!”

A red pointer landed on Susie, snapping her to attention.

“Huh? Me? I don’t have any experience with this kind of stuff, though.” She glanced over to Ms. Claycia as she said so, expecting her to pick someone else.

Instead…

“Ooh, and you’re Susie, yes? Amazing! Brilliant pick! We’ll do it!” After all, the rumors spread not just around the students, but with the teachers too, and Claycia was more than excited to see what these two could do. 

“Eeeeh?”

Why did this clown want to fight her of all people? And Ms. Claycia didn’t mind? She’d barely just learned who he was after she’d taken notice of him always staring at her.

_ Maybe he’s into me? _ But that didn’t really seem to be the case. Marx’s piercing gaze spoke of hatred and envy more than anything like love.

_ Wait, maybe this is like in those Capsule Monster games where we’re rivals? Having a rival would be totally cool!  _ But why would he choose her to be his rival? She was just your everyday girl-next-door, after all, pick someone impressive instead!

“Well, alright,” Susie agreed. “But this is my first time, so please be gentle with me…”

“Hah ha–huh?” Marx paused his ball-bouncing as confusion settled on his face. Somewhere in the crowd of students, the sound of artists slapping their heads and muttering about clueless idiots could be heard.

Marx rapidly shook his head and returned to his predatory mood. This wasn’t good. Marx didn’t seem like the type to hold back in a fight, and she couldn’t just pull out her Business Suit for this. Probably. It crossed her mind that she should just throw the fight as quickly as possible. Marx seemed at least slightly above average in the class, so winning against him would draw too much attention to her. But that would be lame. Plus, the idea of having to continue on pretending not to be able to fight at all sounded really annoying.

Getting hit without being in her Business Suit sounded really dumb and painful though. She didn’t really want to get hurt. 

So then obviously she just wouldn’t get hit. It was decided! She’d lose the battle by dropping her wand or saying she was too tired or something.

Her goal clear, she twirled her blaster in her fingers before grasping it in both hands.

“Go!” Claycia shouted.

With an immediate flip kick, Marx punted his jester ball at Susie.  _ Hah, this’ll get her good!  _ Marx thought.

_ Woosh! _

But his ball only launched through thin air. 

“Huh?”

With her transporter strapped to her back, a burst of power to the blades launched her just a few steps to the diagonal, avoiding the ball completely. Apparently, this wouldn’t be as easy as he thought. Marx didn’t so simply let up, though. Rushing right towards her, he wound his foot back and shot another jester ball at her point-blank.

_ Pew! _

With both hands, Susie drove the tip of her Blaster straight into the ball rushing towards her, and the ball popped when a tiny bullet of light sparked against its surface.

_ She’s open!  _ Marx thought, leaping over her to kick a ball into her back. It was whipped away by her blaster with a flick of her wrist and a twirl of her body, and was once again facing him.

_ Crud! I’ll stomp your face in, lady!  _

He leapt towards her, but once again, Susie burst past him with her transporter. Kick after kick, ball after ball, Susie blocked, dodged, and sniped them all.

Marx cursed. How was she doing all this? The girl looked like she’d never been in a fight before! How was she able to move and fire magic so quickly? How was the amateurish way she manipulated magic enough to do any of the things she was doing?

Frustration boiled up in Marx as Susie continued to deflect everything he flew her way. No no no, he just needed to be tricky! He finally stopped his constant barrage of attacks, and vaguely noted that Susie stopped with him, having never once herself tried to attack.

_ That’s it! _

Marx laid a jester ball on the ground beside him, then kicked another ball completely off into the distance. Following that, he lobbed a ball high into the air before turning his eyes back on Susie and kicking a ball straight at her. She burst to the side of the shot, only to find a shadow above her and immediately pointed her blaster to the sky, shooting away the ball. Marx kicked the ball beside him straight at her just as her gaze fell back down and she immediately burst to the side again.

“Whoa!” Susie called out. 

Yes! Susie was heading straight towards one of his jester balls! The ball he kicked away had rebounded off a tree, into the wall of the school, off a signpost, and now Susie was charging face first into it! Unable to change her trajectory, she grinded the transporter to a halt and held her hands up to shield her face.

_ Crrrrrraaaaack! _

The air burst with a line of explosions shot from her hands, obliterating the ball in front of her. The smell of burning octane filled the air. 

_...What. _ Marx dumbly stared at the girl.

“...Oh.” Susie said.

...

Marx ran up and kicked her blaster hand. 

The gun discharged straight into his foot.

“AUGH! MY FOOT! AHHHHH!”

Marx screamed out and hopped in place on his left foot.

“OOOOOWW OW OW OW OW OOOOWWW!!!”

“Oops.”

“Brilliant! That was amazing, Susie! Very well done!” Claycia clapped.

“W-wait! Who said I was done?!” Marx growled at her, balancing on one foot.

“Oh, aren’t you basically done without your feet? How are you going to kick those balls around?” Claycia shook her head in disappointment. 

“Grrrrh…”

_...I might have screwed up, _ Susie thought. Somehow, she’d won the fight with someone surprisingly athletic. It didn't take a genius to see that looked bad with what she was going for. After all, she told them she’d never even been in a fight before! No, she needed to turn the tides around.

“I’m fine if we continue,” Susie addressed Ms. Claycia.

“Oh, is that so?” The teacher amusedly turned to Marx, who was gently placing his foot back on the ground.

“You’re really good to keep going?”

_ Alright, how do I go about this? After I said we could continue, I can’t go with tiring out anymore. I totally forgot to drop my gun as well when he kicked my hand… looks like I’ll just need to take a hit.  _

She once again grasped her blaster in both hands, taking a ready position.

Marx’s barrage resumed with new vigor, with Susie repeatedly dodging and blocking, looking for a time to slip up. 

_ There! _

When Marx launched a ball up high, she tilted herself back to shoot it down, and fell over as if having lost her balance. She quickly brought her hands up to block her face, tensing in preparation for a ball to slam into her.

_...huh? _

No attack came, and eventually Susie opened her eyes. Marx stood right in front of her scowling, behind him Ms. Claycia tried her best to hold in a laugh.

“Now listen here, you… Listen here, you. Firstly, I’m a clown, not no fool, see? So don’t be treatin’ me like one. Secondly, between you and me,  _ I’m _ the jester here, okay? So don’t be  _ jestin’ _ , y’hear? I don’t know who ya think yer puttin’ up a show fer, but I ain’t no freak in  _ your _ circus, got it?!”

Huh, with her sitting on the ground, she was right at the shorty’s eye level.

Marx slowly opened his mouth, and a ball rolled out on his tongue.

_ Is that where they’ve been coming from?! _

Marx hopped on to the ball and rolled away a few paces with a huge grin on his face.

“Gee wiz, that sure was a nice spar! Hahahaaa! Haha! Ha. Haha.”

_ Was it normal for his smile to be that wide?! Did he always have fangs?! _

Marx started rolling away from her again… backwards, into the distance. All while glaring at her with a huge grin.

All the students watched as he slowly shrank into the horizon, somehow not crashing into a thing behind him.

“Geez, Susie, you gotta consider your opponent’s pride before you go and do things like that!” Claycia shook her head while chuckling.

_ What? I don’t get what’s happening at all! _

“Well, what’s done is done, I guess. I wonder if I should mark him as absent for ditching… Eh, probably not.” Claycia turned to the class. “Anyway, let’s get on with some practice, pair up!”

There was an off number of students, and she ended up alone. When she’d tried to approach Drawcia, she was only given a flat look.

_ What did I do?! _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted Susie to pistol-whip something.


	8. You Lack Knowledge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the wait.

Today was the first day of magic classes, and Susie was determined not to screw up again like with PhysEd.

Among the characters in Susie’s class, a fifth of them showed enough promise in magic talent that they might be referred to as a magician. A further third of the class might still have a trick or two to entertain children for a minute or so that otherwise only held an incredibly niche use. This was an amount far above average, but it was the second-most prestigious school on the planet, after all, even if many often forgot it under the Royal Academy’s shadow.

“Why don’t we go over the examples I gave in class? Even if you can’t use magic yourself, you should participate! Knowing first hand what magic is like can still be useful!”

At their magic teacher Elline’s instructions, the students got to channeling magical energy. Standing alongside Susie, the art sisters were trying their best to draw magic power. Drawcia was able to create wisps of fire, sparkles of electricity, and even flakes of ice, but not to any true practical level. Meanwhile, Paintra and Vividria had no luck whatsoever.

There were many things to consider when evaluating how useful your magic was. How strong, or how effective, is your magic? How long does it last for? How easy is it to prepare and perform?

Technically, a magician could pour more or less power into a spell if they so wanted. But oftentimes this was completely useless when other factors were considered. A high-power spell was impractical if it took too long to make, had little range or didn’t last long enough.

If you could make a ball’s worth of ice and chuck one every minute, you might find that much more useful than charging extra energy into it to create a person’s worth of ice and chuck one every hour. There was always a sweet spot for how much magic a user’s spells were most efficient at, and only very rarely does a magician come along who’s strong enough to use powerful magic at a reasonable rate.

Of course, in the heat of battle, there’s uses for both quick attacks and powerful attacks, and other variables to consider like range. In fights, wits and quick thinking played a huge factor even between magicians.

_ Hmm… I wonder. _

Something didn’t sit right with Susie as she watched the sisters trying to cast magic. She’d deal with it after class, though. Elline gathered up those who couldn’t use magic to observe the ones who could. Susie thought the teacher managed well juggling between critiquing the form and execution of those using magic as well as explaining things to the ones who couldn’t.

While Elline hid it well, she was slightly disappointed when nothing special happened with Susie during her class.  _ I wanted her to do something funny or use some incredible magic… Either of those would’ve been fun to paint. Whatever. _

“I'd like to arrange a meeting after our classes, is that all right?” Susie asked Drawcia.

“Hm, oh yes, sure.” Drawcia found that she absolutely couldn’t refuse the girl when she asked so formally, as if she just couldn’t bear not agreeing.

* * *

School came to a close and Susie stood with the three sisters in a grove in the outskirts of the capital near the gate.

“My apologies that I asked to meet all the way out here,” Susie spoke.

“W-why do we need to meet in a place like this?” Vividria glanced around.

“There’s something I’d like to experiment with. But if I may, please keep all of this confidential, won’t you?”

“Really? Well, it’s not like I mind.” Drawcia spoke. Paintra and Vividria also nodded along.

“You see, observing you three in class, I simply don’t believe we’re approaching magic the right way.”

The artists offered her inquisitive looks, so she continued.

“The three of you are trying hard to pour energy into your spells, aren’t you? But you can’t just force energy into a sphere and expect magic to fly out.”

“What do you mean?” Drawcia asked. “Isn’t a sphere of energy the most fundamental sort of magic?”

“Certainly not.”

“Really?” The artists were shocked at Susie’s confidence.

“When the three of you tried to make magic, you all tried to make a ball out of energy, and force that energy to be hot or cold, or to spark. And as the energy grows and becomes unwieldy, you attempt to force it back into a ball as its shape spreads chaotically. A ball can be useful because it’s easy to imagine, formulaic, and controlled. But what you really need is to visualize the magic, regardless of what you think it should look like, rather than trying your hardest to keep it a certain way.”

“Hmm, I think I see what you’re getting at…” Drawcia found herself liking the way Susie described magic.

“Don’t force yourself to follow a specific image, instead mould that image to resemble yourself! How does the cold resonate with you? What does your rage look like? Bring it out just like you paint your art! Magic is your own! Magic comes from the Soul, after all!”

The three stared blankly at her. They’d never heard magic described as such before.

“You're saying magic is… rather than an outside power we dominate and control, an inner power that we release? That has to be…” 

_ “I don’t care how powerful her magic is, that ruler of Floralia didn’t care about anything but beauty and control. It’s the same with her little manipulative follower!” Paintra complained. _

_ “Yea, well, I gotta admit, I definitely see the appeal in having things all under my control, you know? I can’t say I’d ever just announce ‘I’ll rule you’ like that queen did though. Hah, you think anyone would welcome  _ me _ as their overlord? But hey, that’s all in the past now! I learned some new magic tricks, and you get to tag along. You did a bravo job with those paintings and I know just the girls you might wanna see! _

If magic was not about control, but what was on the inside… then for people like the rulers of the heavens, it was in fact all about control. And somehow it worked out for that traveler too?

But for them…

Magic must be like freedom.

“You know, usually it’s the art students that talk about things like a ‘Soul’ and bringing it out into the world. Now you’re telling me that isn’t just art, but magic as well?”

“Right! So when you want to make something like fire, you have to feel inside and tell yourself: ‘I am fire! I am a raging inferno!’ Do that until you feel the heat!” The three of them looked skeptical.

“Come on, just give it a try!”

Filled with curiosity, Vividria decided she’d try Susie’s way and draw from her ♥.

Floating into the air, Vividria flipped over and imagined a scene of drizzling rain.

_ Pit-plat-pit-plat! _

The splattering of water against the ground resounded in the space below Vividria. Honest and true water, not paint. Despite the fact that Vividria had never shown any promise in using non-paint based magic before. And it wasn’t just a splash of water that might quench your thirst, it was an entire downfall of water that promised to be useful in a variety of manners, even not considering how often she could do it.

“No way!” Vividria was flabbergasted. Being able to use magic was a great boon for an artist. The ability to visualize a scene when painting was certainly a talent, but having the power to create water at will to directly reference the dynamics and interactions of water with other materials was incredibly convenient for bringing a painting to life. Being able to witness the elements as they appeared in real life at any time they wanted would enrich their eye for imagery to actualize onto a canvas.

There was also a great deal she could use the elements for in her paintings themselves! Maybe she could try mixing up some watercolors with her paint without having to plan for it beforehand and lugging around water to wherever she needed it.

After all, artists were some of the most frequent travelers of the cosmos, and it wasn’t always the case that you’d have access to water on a given planet. One might need a few litres of water a day depending on the amount of paint they produced. If an artist wanted to paint a scorching landscape, they’d have to keep cool on a molten planet devoid of water. Being able to produce that water themselves instead of carrying it around was a huge load off their shoulders. 

And furthermore, maybe, along with her sisters, she might even be powerful enough to become a boss!

“I… must be dreaming…” Vividria breathily sighed out, sinking to the ground in a bubbly haze.

In witness, Paintra immediately bounced up, tensing as to channel her own feelings.

_ Hssssszz! _

It was little compared to Vividria’s rain, but from nowhere, flames scattered downwards from the air around her and birthed smoke and embers in the field.

“Hee… hieh… Aieheeheheah!” Paintra cackled in the air as she watched the grass alight.

“Unbelievable…” Drawcia had observed in stunned silence, but as the damp clearing crisped, she pulled herself together and called her own inner strength. If her sisters who had no power over the elements before could do this much, then she who could do it even before would not fail!

The air sparked and crackled with plasma before a ray of golden lightning shot into the distance. Drawcia flipped her cape to the side and the beam turned in the air, rotating from its origin and screeching as it passed through and bisected a tree.

The resounding thud of the falling trunk preceded a tranquil silence amongst the sisters.

“This magic… is power worthy of a final boss!” Drawcia’s voice trembled.

_ What in the world does final boss mean in this world? Are video games a thing here too? _

Drawcia Sorceress, born from her hatred and resentment for reality, manipulated worlds with her roiling anger. The black power that came from inside her dissipated when a mysterious traveler challenged her with a painting which itself yearned for revenge.

But now, once again, the sorcerous power within her that christened her the witch of the canvas was within her control. And with it, she knew she’d become one of but a handful in the galaxies, those with strength beyond strength.

She, the artist’s creation, who’d once been a powerless painting at the whims of her lord. Who’d once been a wrathful spirit wanting the world for herself. She had the power to live happily, and power far beyond even that.

The idea of a poor, helpless, and starving art student seemed so distant suddenly, for her or anyone else she might find. They were blown away and scattered like mist in the wind.

Susie only shared this knowledge with the three of them as a sort of experiment. She wanted to know just how much individuals could improve at magic through understanding alone. She’d chosen them as a sort of kindness for talking to her and buying her deodorant. But seeing them all absorbed in reminiscence, she thought that maybe she’d underestimated how great this information was.

The felled tree inflamed in the spreading blaze.

Just maybe.

“Hey! So, um, can you all… uh, keep this a secret?” she stuttered. “Like, try and act surprised or something when you have classes next time and you accidentally cut a tree down or something. Or just don’t cut a tree down.”

Having calmed, the sisters all nodded in agreement, knowing the risks.

If the knowledge that magic could be so easily improved spread, there would certainly be chaos. A world where everyone became more powerful could be frightening, and this world’s current society may face upheaval. Those in power might also seek Susie out for how she came upon this knowledge and if she knew anything else, which could be incredibly bothersome. She also didn't want to come into conflict with the Bratts, which might just happen if she became famous here.

“A-absolutely!” Vividria nodded.

“Heh, after you’ve helped us like this, of course!” Paintra followed.

“Worry not, Susie. I will always take care of my little sisters… including you.”

* * *

“There’s just one thing,” Vividria added as they returned. “How’d you know we’re painters?”

“...Huh? Isn’t it obvious?”

“Wha…?”

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

…

“I’m impressed you figured it out,” Drawcia eventually admitted.

“Oh come now, you’d have to be absolutely oblivious to not notice!”

“And you aren’t?” Paintra snickered.

“Wh-What? No, I’m certainly more observant than any of you! Vividria’s probably the oblivious one here!”

“Hey! Totally not! …Maybe compared to my big sisters, but not you! Right, Drawcia?”

“...”

“Drawcia?”

“...You can be a bit dense sometimes.”

“Hah! See?”

“But you, Susie… Sometimes it seems like your head’s on another planet… or in another dimension.”

“What?! No way, what do you mean?”

“Well, sometimes you seem like you’re extremely analytical and notice every small thing, and other times I wonder how you manage to walk.”

“What do you meeeeaaaan????”

* * *

Elline was ecstatic when she found the three sisters bloom into magical power. Was it because of her? It absolutely had to be! Yay! After all, she always felt like she had some sort of connection to those three, but she wasn’t sure what. Claycia had just laughed and said ‘You’ll see soon enough’.

She was particularly interested in Drawcia. That girl almost seemed as cool as Claycia! And now she was powerful to boot.

Meanwhile, her interest in that Susie girl was all but forgotten.


	9. Last Contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha...... I broke a week.

Susie was now two months into her second year at MareenI. As a second year student, she could proudly say she was living a regular, uneventful childhood life where absolutely nothing of interest had happened in the past year. Her class now was nearly the same as before; only very few students were transferred to a lower ranking class due to their grades.

Susie’s birthday had just passed recently, and she was now thirteen years old.

_ “Heaven forbid, even now I often forget you’re not an adult. Who knows what you’ll be accomplishing when you’re a teenager.” _

Who would’ve guessed she’d be on a permanent vacation in the middle of nowhere instead of managing the HWC?

In the span of a year with a little extra, she’d earned 180 Silvox through her part time job at the Shoppe, and half of that was still saved up with Mother. And she should count her lucky stars with all the gifts Vividria bought her, else she might not have had even that much! Hygiene products were expensive!

Susie’s academics were brilliant as expected. Physically, she was surprisingly weak for how agile and dexterous she otherwise seemed to be, even considering her terrible form. Her instructor Claycia insisted that she could use the strength of her dashes to ram into her opponents, but Susie refused with all her might. Susie’s sorcery was par for the course, measured to be average for a potential practitioner.

Such was the school’s evaluation of her abilities.

Meanwhile, Drawcia became the belle of the ball with her multi-talented skillset, excelling in every field. Despite their newfound power, the Artists still stayed on this planet, now not because they needed to, but because they wanted to.

“I give you my thanks, Susie. Spin-off charac— Er, I mean, artists… don’t tend to get paid well.”

“I still have no idea what you’re saying. But it’s all in kind; you’re great friends and helped deal with those boys.”

The two smirked at each other.

Over the past year, the three sisters painted and painted beautiful portraits of fauna, flora, and mana of all sorts, gaining interplanetary repute.

“Hey, hey, hey! You know what time it is,” the silly voice interrupted their thoughts.

“Hmph, of course, the circus has come to town.”

Marx had dropped in with a gleam in his eyes as usual, but upon Susie’s reply his face twisted to a scowl. Rolling away on his ball, he eventually let out an absent chuckle.

“That one, however, is quite attached, wouldn’t you say?”

“Sky-high and smitten,” Susie nodded in exasperation.

Ever since their first match at the beginning of last year, Marx had battled with Susie every month. Their spars were officiated by Claycia during classes so that they’d always be present for it when the time came, but even still, it was all a bit of an ordeal.

Sure, Marx was trying hard and improving, but there was only so much you could do by kicking balls around. She certainly understood the desire to triumph over an obstacle, but couldn’t he see the writing on the wall? And it’s not like he was a good sport about it either, with his constant glaring and animosity before their matches and blank, soulless smiles after he lost. Still, she’d felt obligated to accept considering they were classmates, no matter how annoying and creepy he was.

The worst part was that he was usually a jolly, pleasant guy. He seemed to play along and cause lighthearted mischief with other students just fine, giggling and pulling pranks without any of his disturbing seriousness. Thinking about that just made her all the more peeved.

She hadn’t tried since the first time to lose to Marx, after Claycia had explained to her how people like Marx were obsessed with control and domination. “People like that hate the idea that they’re not strong enough. He hides it well when he’s not around you, but you can just  _ see _ it in his eyes: how much he wants to conquer, can’t you? People like that don’t take handouts well. It means they're not the one in control, after all.”

She generally tried not to look him in the eyes though. Especially after beating him.

Actually, the things Claycia described felt familiar in some way, didn’t they?

* * *

Like always, combat class started.

Like always, it began with their match.

Like always, it ended with his defeat.

Marx was trickier and cleverer each time in the way he fought, employing more and more complex techniques. But all of that meant nothing to the overwhelming amount of power Susie could channel into every movement she made. 

That being said, she wasn’t going all out on him or anything like that; nothing she was doing was outside the realm of possibility. Still, nothing Marx could possibly do would net him a win when she was doing this much. 

The usual soul-piercing focus was on her, as it always was post-match. Yet this time, she just wasn’t in the mood.

_ It’s not like this is my fault! Why do I have to put up with this?  _

They’d been through this act a dozen times now, and it was always the same old, same old. Enough with it!

“Listen up!” Her shout caught the class’s attention as she jabbed her finger forward, pointing at Marx. “We’re through! No more of this! I’m not fighting you again! We’re breaking up!”

“What?” Marx was caught off guard by her unusual response to his gaze.

“Breaking up? Like a couple?!” A spectator shouted.

“Like a band! Or a circus troupe! Disbanded! No more!”

For a while, Marx merely continued to stare into her, unsure of what to make of her proclamation. 

“...You wish!” He shouted. “I’m not stopping until I’ve triumphed—“

“I don’t give a damn! Get stronger if you want, don’t involve me!”

Marx opened his mouth to respond, but Susie continued and cut him off.

“What do you think fighting me over and over’s going to accomplish? How long are you going to keep slamming your head against a wall trying to break it? Is that how you got in this school, you absolute dunce? Did you cave your brain in?”

“Wh…”

“Weren’t you oh-so high and mighty when you first came to this planet? Aren’t you supposed to be someone people watch out for and take seriously? You said you wanted to rule your planet, did you not? But then you found someone stronger than you—that’s me by the way—and you turn into a demanding little brat! Is this how you wanted to go about ruling? Repeatedly fighting and losing against whoever owns your planet? Do you think they’ll let you rematch them over and over again? You must’ve come all the way out here in search of power because you knew that was stupid, right?”

“I mean, yea, but—“

“But nothing! Find power some other way! Go wish on a star or pray to a god or something! Because I don’t care! I don’t care if you can’t ever amount to me!” Susie marched up to Marx and continued in a hiss. 

“There are people born with nothing. Born without power, without resources. My father was a man like that. And he became the most powerful man in the galaxy. He worked for it. And you know what? I was born with everything. All my father’s resources. Even this power I have now? I didn’t work for it. It was given to me on a clockwork whim.

“Then there are people like you. You were born with and handed less power than I. You’ve worked harder than me striving to gain power. But still, you’re lesser. And you know what I think about that?” She crossed her arms in contempt, flicking her head to the side.

“Too bad, so sad. Let me use my infinite resources to make you the galaxy’s softest handkerchief for you to cry your bulbous eyes into. The world’s just unfair like that. If you want to try and do something about it, go ahead. But I’m not obligated in any way to help you on that even if I could, you get it?”

Off to the side, Claycia was giggling into her hands, careful not to let the students see. 

“I…”

“You?”

“I… tch. I was just entertaining myself tryna figure you out until that traveler made a move again. But fine! I’ll lay off until I find some way to lay you out good.” Marx hopped onto a ball and rolled away as quickly as he could while cackling into the distance.

“My my, not much of a philanthropist, are we?” Claycia tutted. “I wonder if I mark him absent now… Ah, it’s just too much of a hassle if I mark him absent. It’s… extenuating circumstances.” The students all nodded in agreement at Claycia mumbling out loud.

“I can’t believe they broke up.”

“Wait so they were dating?”

“No way they weren’t!”

“Is this my chance to ask her out then?”

“Oh come on, right after she broke up?”

“Hey, if I don’t take this chance someone else will!”

“Good luck with that. Didn’t you hear? All the guys in the class tried getting close to her, no dice. She totally avoided the guys who were hitting on her, don’t let it seem like she’s all clueless.”

“Doesn’t that mean I have an even better chance if she’s not into guys?”

“What? No I’m saying she ended up with Marx because he was the only one that didn’t approach her like that!”

“Why do you two think they were dating? That’s just silly.”

“Oh come on, you don’t see it?”

“No, I don’t, because I think she and Vividria have a thing going on.”

“No way, they’re just gal pals.”

“Yes, girl… friends. Girlfriends. Haven’t you seen how close they are?”

“That’s just how girls talk, you wouldn’t know.”

“Wait wait, maybe he’s onto something! If she’s fine with Vividria that means I have a chance!” 

“But it means she’s still taken already…”

“Argh wait, yea…”

“I thought Susie was dating that Bonkers fellow.”

“What.”

“Who?”

“Dude. They’ve like… literally never talked.”

“But wouldn’t it be so romantic? The big brute and the demure wallflower are secret lovers in—“

“Can it, no one wants to hear about your fantasies.”

Amongst the utter nonsense that was the class’s chattery gossip, Claycia waved over the artist sisters.

“O’ canvas-witch sister trio, I need you to help me out!”

“C-canvas-witch? Is that us?” Vividria wondered. “What does that name mean?”

The artists were perturbed by the moniker.

“O-oh! Yes, well… um. Amongst the teachers, i guess we uh, started calling you three that. Because! Uh, you all, look and dress like you came from a painting! That’s… why. And you call got so good at magic together! Right, some of the other teachers, uh, think you were blessed by a goddess or something! Hah, so uh, if you hear the teachers, like me and Elline, uh, call you stuff like… canvas-witches, or art-sorceresses, it’s just because… you dress really well. Like an artwork. Yea, that.”

“...”

“...”

“Did… you need something?” Drawcia eventually asked. 

“Right! Well, that Marx boy, he’s a crazy one, but you can probably tell, right? Now, Susie’s right, but Marx is a son of a gun who’ll actually pull it off if you challenge him like that. I can’t have him going final boss-Marx’s Revenge in my classroom, you know? He’s totally that type of character, isn’t he?”

“Right,” Paintra agreed. Loathe to admit it, they had no choice here but to accept regardless. Claycia’s evaluation of Marx wasn’t far off from their own. They couldn’t turn a blind eye to Susie potentially being harassed by someone like that.

“I believe we’ll be taking you up on this request. But don’t expect us to do so simply because you’re our teacher.”

“Oh, of course not! I’m asking as an associate, and if it comes to it I can return a favor! You’ve got to be willing to pay up when you commision people, after all!”

“...”

“Wh-what’s a final boss?”

“O-oh! Uh, I dunno! It just slipped out!”

“...”

“...”

* * *

_ Hmph! That uppity girl sure knows how to talk, huh?  _ Marx would’ve gone off and tried to steal something to beat her right then and there if it hadn’t been for those sisters that visited him.

He was quite surprised by that. He got along fine with most of his classmates at the school, but he had particularly avoided those girls. He always had a hunch that it’d be best if he didn’t carelessly meddle with them, even before they awoke to incredible magic. Despite that, they’d innocently come by asking if he was alright, and to not take Susie so seriously.

That was another reason he hadn’t goofed with them, they were close with that girl that interested him so.

Regardless, he’d decided not to do anything too drastic for now. There were a lot of things that could come through patience, after all. But it also wouldn’t hurt to push things along.

“Is that so? Hm, well I’m quite impressed I didn’t notice! Bravo on that. You seem like a swell, honest guy, just like me, so I’ll teach you some things. You’d just have to do a teensy thing for me, is that alright?”

“Hey hey, sure! What’ll it be?”

“We gotta be heartfelt best friends!”

“Heehee!”

* * *

The following day, Susie entered her classroom to find an excited, buzzing atmosphere. Though, nothing actually important seemed different; her classmates greeted her normally as she passed by and she did the same.

It was later in the say that she’d figure it out. Everyone seemed strangely motivated to do their best. Whether it was during lectures, during practicals, during tutoring, during sorcery, everyone was giving their all, listening intently, writing concise notes, and asking relevant questions. The girls particularly seemed motivated above anything to do their best. Weird, but it wasn’t like it was a bad thing. But it was just completely off from usual. What was going on?

Even Marx was there, breezing through the classes with a mischievous look on his face and winning the admiration of the class as always. There also wasn’t a glance her way like before.

Claycia was thrilled with the way things turned out, gossiping with the teachers about how cool the canvas-witches were and how this might’ve been their doing. More and more, the teachers came to see them as model students, dependable and trustworthy. Of course, that just meant they often got picked to do extra work.

Susie tapped her cheek in thought and spoke with Drawcia.

“Hmm, is it just me, or are those boys getting rowdy again? Seems like a bit of eyes are upon me again.”

Drawcia simply shook her head, as if exasperated with her. “Susie, you really have no idea what you’re doing, do you?”


	10. In the Presence of Power That Rivals the Divine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, we've reached ten chapters! And the turning point of this story. Thank you for coming along!

It was about a week after her incident with Marx. Susie was busy manning the Shoppe.

For the sake of really wanting money, and perhaps less importantly some contractual obligations for being on this land, the Shoppe was kept open on the weekend. This was despite the comparatively poor sales on the weekend relative to weekdays. Not that it was really surprising. A shop like the Shoppe was set up for convenience; it wasn’t something people went to for leisure. People generally stayed home to relax and have their three meals. Believe it or not, there were people in this world that lived properly, eating real food instead of instant coffee and stale hot dogs or soup that had been sitting under a heating lamp for who knows how long.

Yet in spite of all, there were those who did not cook their own meals or have it cooked for them. Perhaps they couldn’t. Perhaps they wouldn’t. Mayhaps they shouldn’t.

Shopkeep kept his shop open for them. That was an act of love from him to his customers. Definitely.

But actually, the problem of lower sales on the weekend was practically gone now. Ever since Susie was employed, sales had steadily increased until weekends were just as profitable as weekdays.

And the reason behind this…

“Umm…I’ll also have an electro eclair, please!” A Chilly child, cheeks dangerously red for a snowman, ordered from the bakery section.

“That’ll be two silver, four copper.” With a smile, Susie placed the baked goods into cello bags and neatly tied them close with pink ribbons. As she changed hands with the boy, she spotted him grow jittery and further rose-faced. His own hand was reluctant to move, as if both careful not to touch hers and wanting to grab it and never let go.

“Thank you very much! Please have a good day,” she said. The boy hesitated, however, staying at the counter.

“Um, hey, are you free sometime after the store closes?” the Chilly asked.

“Sorry, I’ll have to hurry back to the school cafeteria for dinner, and after that, it wouldn’t be good for me to be out too late…”

“Oh… okay then…” the boy’s head hung in disappointment after having worked up the courage to ask her out.

“Please come again!” she said. 

“Y-yea, of course!” 

The boy eventually made his way home, daydreaming of Susie’s cheerful face.

Susie, the charming cashier, with a cute face and overly polite mannerisms, fooled many young eyes into thinking she was interested in them.

A pretty girl from a school prestigious as the Institution, but not so out of reach as the Academy, working as a cashier in some small college town shop; she was in the perfect sweet spot between two heavens; approachable and desirable. 

Always smiling at them, smart enough to get into a good school, and cute. For the first time in their young minds, they felt from within their hearts… ‘this girl in front of me, I want to be with her!’

_“Hmhmm! All according to plan… It certainly was the right decision to hire someone charming like you!” The Shopkeep teased when she wondered about his growing profits._

_“My, I’ve no clue what you could be implying~~!” Susie sang her response playfully. Talking to Shopkeep wasn’t like talking to her father about the HWC. Somehow, things had been more distant with her father than with this Shopkeeper._

_“I’ll say for sure though, you seem like you’ve got what it takes to run a business! You sure got the charms to lure in the customers, maybe even better than I do!”_

_“Oh, stop that. And I do hope that’s in regards to my customer service skills over any other charms you might be referring to.” she twirled her hair as she leaned on the counter._

_“Well, of course I mean your customer service! What other charms? My, or are you telling me you’ve been performing witchcraft upon my customers?” Magolor waggled a finger and tutted admonishingly._

_“Oh? And here I might’ve thought you were the one versed in magicry between the two of us. But truly, you mean to tell me you weren’t referring to any other charms I might have at disposal? Certainly, an observant man such as yourself has had their gaze squarely set on what charms a lady might carry.”_

_“I’m not sure what you’re talking about! Not either of those things. No way! Magicry? A lady’s charms? Isn’t that mouth of yours getting too wild? Trying to leave me speechless?”_

_“Oh?” She covered her face in feigned shock. “How scandalous! I’m not trying anything! After all…” her hands drifted away from her face to shrug. “I don’t have a mouth! And I wonder, how could I leave you speechless, if you don’t have a mouth either?” Her hand reached over in a grabbing motion. “Unless… what could you be hiding under that cloth, I wonder?”_

_“Alright, alright, enough of that! I’ll give you a little bonus pay, how about that?”_

“Ahh, Susie, sugar cube, you’re running the store again?” The slow and wobbly voice shook her from her idle thoughts.

“Oh, granny! Welcome!” The weekend also brought with it the elderly. There weren’t many elderly in a college town, but the whole of them were a lonely bunch, reminiscing of their days as parents raising their children. To be able to talk to someone young like Susie was greatly uplifting. And she didn’t mind it either, it was a much better change of pace from the wannabe Casanovas.

If there was one thing she lamented, it was that the rising sales meant less spoils for her to take home.

* * *

Making her way to the dorms after work, she found the streets crowded with a flock of clamorous people.

“Excuse me, is there something going on right now?”

“Oh, Susie dearie!” A granny recognized her from the Shoppe and explained. “I’ve heard a royal entourage is passing by! A queen and her escorts from another star! They say she’s as beautiful as a goddess, so everybody wants a glimpse of her. They actually say a lot about her…”

The old lady explained the gist of it to Susie: The Kingdom this queen hailed from suddenly shut itself off to the rest of the world for years upon years. Not many were certain what the queen looked like or how she acted, with rumors wildly varying upon even what species she was. 

_Eh, I’ll check it out._ It wasn’t everyday you saw a queen, after all. She could afford time to take a glimpse and still get back.

Susie took advantage of her slim build to make her way through to the front of the crowd. Soon after she’d slipped to the front, she caught sight of the convoy marching down the main road.

At the front were four soldiers of blue, carrying spiked clubs and a thick full-body shield. Their bug-like appearance reminded Susie of an ant. 

Following behind them was an absolutely enormous soldier of gold. This one’s club had spikes extending upwards, and a more intricate engraving on his shield. Actually, all the soldiers held the same type of club and shield otherwise. Draping his back was a short cape extending from his shoulderguards. And further behind him was a gorgeously ornate carriage decorated with patterns of an intricate flower, flanked at the back with three mid-sized green soldiers and two larger red ones. 

The company of ten foot soldiers left the carriage not unguarded from any angle. It was necessary since the carriage couldn’t simply speed through capital roads. It must’ve entered from the Outskirts Gate, and was heading to the Royal Castle.

Wait no, weren’t they supposed to be from a different planet? They couldn’t have just come here by a carriage. Perhaps the carriage came from quite a large ship, but usually, landing large ships on a planet could be considered an act of hostility… 

The entourage eventually came close, and just as the blue vanguard passed her by, a boy across from her stumbled and was knocked onto the road.

“Who dares approach?” The giant soldier, who the boy fell in front of, quickly kicked the child forward, away from the carriage.

The blow landing squarely on his gut, the boy landed sprawling on the ground groaning, too pained to get up. Onlookers all murmured, too afraid to intervene. The company continued to march until the giant soldier stood above the child again. With another kick, the boy was launched forward again. A few snickers came from the line of soldiers in front as they glanced backwards at the child.

 _What is this senseless violence?_ Killing someone to protect yourself or to steal their possessions was one thing, but that boy wasn’t important at all! _Dammit… I really shouldn’t be interfering in something like this, but I can’t swallow it! I’m not just a heartless shell of a person!_

Before she really thought about what she was doing, she’d burst forward to the boy just as the soldier approached again. Only as she threw herself over him, she wondered that maybe getting kicked herself wasn’t any better.

_Oh no, please don’t let him kick me…!_

_*Kling!*_

The soldier’s foot slammed into a translucent wall and bounded backwards.

“Arrgh! My foot!”

A pink heart-shaped barrier constructed from triangular planes was erected between her and the soldier. Two panels of ivory and metal were embedded within the barrier, resembling a broken heart.

_Isn’t that…?_

Her wish for protection was heard by the Mother Computer. Though she hadn’t had a cohesive thought as to how she could protect herself when she hoped deeply within her, this only let Mother take the reins about how to go about it.

Susie didn’t wish to simply defend, she wanted not to feel any pain at all. And whatever Mother evaluated of the situation, it decided the only acceptable minimum to aiding Susie’s heartful act was to use its own shell, whether it was truly necessary or out of some overprotective instinct. 

“You dare defy us?” The giant soldier lifted its club and struck her barrier. And again it lifted its club to strike, and again and again. But not a scratch appeared on the shield.

“Enough of this!” The soldier stepped backward and twirled his club in the air. An orb of pure light launched forward from it, but all the same, it burst upon contact with the shining surface of her shield.

“Impossible!”

_What in Father’s name is happening oh lord oh dear what am I doing_

Susie was not anywhere close to calm right now.

Getting into a scuffle with some foreign soldiers was bad enough, but she’d also somehow pulled out this ridiculous and gigantic magic barrier without meaning to. There was no way such a strong barrier could exist with the magic known on this planet.

Magic spheres could be broken if attacked. The earth could be raised to form a wall. Elements could be used to do so too. But a pure barrier as strong as this? There was no way an ordinary being could make it. Anyone with something like this was fighting on a different level entirely. Everyone would want their hands on this kind of power!

Well, that is, if they didn’t see her as the enemy for defying a Queen, that is.

_Argh, what did I get myself into? Creating this impossible barrier and making a fuss against a Queen’s guard? How do I get out of this… Dammit! This is stupid!_

“What sorcery is this? You stand here in defiance of our Queen, ruler of the heavens!” The giant soldier had taken a step back, and the line of blue soldiers had regrouped behind him directly in front of the carriage.

_Ruler of the heavens? What kind of crud is that? What is she, God? Is being queen not enough? Fake! Not my God! I don’t accept any god, not your stupid queen, not even my own god! Stupid God! Stupid Mother Computer! I’m my own God! I worship myself!_

_...wait. Two can play this stupid game!_

Slowly, she brought herself off the ground and patted herself of dust. With a snap, the barrier in front of her dissipated. The metal pieces closed together and lifted above her. Only then did she direct her eyes to the soldier.

“Oh? What an amusing claim from such a fragile, imperfect lifeform as yourself. How could an insect like you know what true power looks like?”

“Wh-what?”

“Wouldn’t you like to witness the power of a real God?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I drew this pic of Sectonia: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/599165344019644426/739894275453616138/Sectonia_Final_BGd.png
> 
> It wasn't for this fic though, it was someone's birthday and they're a big Triple Deluxe fan. I'd been itching to try and properly draw something again, which I hadn't done since about Planet Robobot's release.


	11. An Ephemeral Deus Ex Machina

“Insolence! Nonsensical!” the soldier spat in a rage at Susie’s proclamation. “Antlers, surround her!” At the large Antler’s command, the blue soldiers hesitantly approached.

_ *Kaboom!* _

Susie pointed a finger at the ground, and a bolt of lightning crashed down in front of the soldiers.

“Whoa!” The soldiers all turned their eyes to the flash like bugs drawn to light. But the electricity didn’t dissipate; a continuous stream of electricity dragged chaotically across the ground as Susie moved her finger, at first slowly, then flicking to point towards a soldier. 

“Augh!” The soldier barely tried to raise his shield before he was struck. Susie pulled her hand back as immediately as she’d pointed towards him, and with it the lightning went away as well. The soldier was flung back, dropping his gear in agony and collapsing in a heap.

“Wha–what just happened?” The other blue soldiers backed away in fright. As if from the heavens themselves, lighting was brought down at this girl’s behest to smite her opponents.

“Calling such powerful lightning… Just like our goddess?” The soldiers frightfully backed into a clump whilst whispering among each other, less like soldiers and more like the bunch of cowering insects they were.

For once, Susie had taken control of the potential given to her. While her wish earlier granted her a shell she otherwise couldn’t produce, this time Susie used her knowledge to circumvent the limits she’d had the Mother Computer impose. She’d magically induced a cloud field in the sky full of rushing wind. With the assistance of lightning magic, she’d then directed negative charges below her storm cloud and positive charges above. So, by creating a field of positive charges wherever she pointed, she caused a lightning strike indirectly as her storm cloud naturally separated charges further and nature sought to balance out. Through this, more power was available than a direct spell to create electricity.

However, there was another reason she created a storm cloud, and that was to hide the warp hole outputting a Holo Defense system. From within the veil of clouds, the device split open and shot a beam of light towards her. To the eyes of the witnesses, this beam of light pierced the clouds from the sky upon her, and feathery wings grew from her back, formed of pure light. 

“I-It’s an… angel? A Goddess?” a soldier whispered weakly. 

Stood before them was a glowing girl with gossamer wings… and she looked  _ angry _ .

“To the ends of rectifying such slights against me, what shall I do? You natives need to be taught manners. I guess it’s time to take matters into my own extremities. I’m afraid… you must be destroyed!” She emphasized her words with an aggressive flick of her wings. She wasn’t sure herself if she was putting on a show or serious anymore.  _ Maybe this could be a good way to relieve stress…  _ The crowd of people started chittering discordantly, slowly backing away from her.

“Please wait.” The voice, despite the whistle of blowing wind, serenely resounded across the crowd of people. A girl popped out from the carriage and fluttered right over to Susie.

She was silver-haired, appearing just on the cusp of adulthood. A pair of hands were held together as if to pray, and she bowed her head with grace. Was this the queen?

“This party of soldiers belongs to me. I must apologize for their transgressions against you, o’  _ goddess _ .” The queen spoke with an airy, thrilling voice, and Susie was almost surprised into murmuring an apology for disturbing her travels. Despite the situation, the queen was plastered with a full-faced smile, as if this was the happiest moment of her life.

“Y-your highness?! Why have you—no, firstly, this matter was entirely handled by us, you are not at fault!” The large Antler proclaimed.

The queen laughed like a witty joke was told to her, and rested a hand on the soldier’s head for a moment, as if reassuring a child that everything would be fine.

“It is as your leader that I must be responsible for our actions.” She’d turned back to Susie. “Isn’t that right?”

Presented with the idea, however, Susie couldn’t help but feel that no blame should ever be put on such a girl.  _ To offer to shoulder their burden like that, she surely couldn’t be a bad person…  _

For a moment, the two simply stood in silence, where not a single person in witness dared take a breath, enamored by the ethereal beauties, somehow both existing in this place at the same time.

_...What am I doing?! I’m having a staredown with a queen who thinks I’m a god!  _ This needed to be over with. She had earlier opened a vial of nanogenetic material that slid over to the collapsed child, meant to heal his wounds. Nanomachines would propagate cells to heal damaged tissue, organs, or bone.

“Do not presume to know what my judgement shall be, I will act as I see fit. But I will spare you in this case, having seen your heart. Do you understand?”

“Oh, yes!” the girl cried ecstatically. “I thank you kindly, goddess.”

_ What an absolute gem of a person!  _ She couldn’t help her aching heart as the queen expressed such joy at her words.

“You there!” She pointed at the large soldier and he flinched back. “Don’t you understand that your actions reflect upon your queen? To attack a defenseless child, you would have done not but sully her name!” 

The queen cooed at her words. “Oh, great Goddess, for you to have protected my image with your actions, I am deeply indebted to you!” Her voice sung like a tune, one the ear followed in anticipation of every word as if such a sound might never be heard again. 

“However, there is one thing I must ask! O’ goddess! To be graced with your presence is an honor, but I must know! I too must feel what is in your mind!” Her gaze rose to the floating shell above Susie.

“Won’t you allow me to touch your heart?” Her face was pleading and lovely with hopeful things within it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth. There was an excitement to her request that Susie found difficult to ignore: a singing compulsion, a whispered “please”, a promise that she’d done gay, exciting things before and that there were gay, exciting things to be done now.

Gently, like a leaf fluttering in the spring breeze, one of her hands rose and brushed by Susie’s cheek, and as it did she swore her heart might fail then, as if magic filled the air and the gentle grazing had shot sparks in the air. The hand ascended then to the shell, and from its relaxed form, it roused to life and showed its palm to her heart, promising to hold it gently. The soft, gloved hand gravitated slowly towards the cold, hard metal in a manner that left Susie frustrated, ever edging closer but never reaching it, and Susie thought she might die of desperation.

Finally, cloth pressed against metal, and both seemed to glow with a pink aura. For just a moment, it seemed as if something wonderful might happen, and Susie watched with bated breath. But as if just before anything could, the Queen retracted her hand and let loose a wistful sigh.

“Thank you. I think I understand you better now.”

“Y-yes. Well, it is time for me to take my leave,” Susie said, then added, “However, through this mortal body, I am studying ways of life. I will discard all memories of this, and you are not to speak of any of this afterwards. Have I made myself clear?” Susie’s eyes roamed the crowd of people, as well as the soldiers by the carriage. Everyone nodded blankly.

“Ah,” the queen sang. “But might I ask that I inform my most trusted advisor?” Susie mulled over this request for a while, gazing into those hopeful eyes, before slowly nodding.

“That, I will permit. Nothing beyond that.” At that moment, an idea popped into her head. “And actually, I shall ask something in turn.”

“Anything for you, of course!”

“Give me money.”

“...Huh?”

Susie turned to the large Antler. 

“You, bug thing.”

“Um, Lord Antler, your uh... greatness.”

“Wasn’t asking. You have money? Give it to me. As a tithe or tribute… or something. After I return to normal.”

“R-right, of course.” It wasn’t like he could refuse someone who claimed to be a goddess, after all.

_ Score. Guess this wasn’t just a huge waste of time then. Well, let’s wrap it up. _

With a wave of her hand, the Holo Defense system bathed the boy in light, not to create anything, but simply as a visual effect.

“I have healed this boy’s wounds.” With nanogenetic technology she’d developed studying the gooey bird, that is. “My demand to keep this quiet, never forget it!” Passing one last glare to the crowd of people, she disabled the API. As the light faded from the boy, so too did her wings fade away, and she feigned a look of dizziness.

“H-huh? What happened? I was so scared, I feel like I fainted…” She stumbled and glanced around in supposed shock. 

“Uhh… You there! Little lady!” The lord Antler spoke.

“Wh-what? What do you want?” Susie shrugged back with wide eyes.

_ Maybe Drawcia’s suggestion to learn how to act wasn’t useless after all... _

“You’ve shown great courage and did what was right. As apologies for our actions, I offer you this as a reward.” The guard reached into his cape and produced a satchel of coins.

_ Ka-ching! Go, me! _

Susie fought fiercely to hide her delight as she accepted the bag from the soldier. Oh, the weight of it! Just lovely. Money was truly a beautiful thing.

“Ugh, wha-? Why did I just wake up on the street?” 

The boy had woken up. The quite poor-looking boy, compared to her in her entirely neat office clothes. And right now, she was the center of attention with a bag of money.

Hmm. This was bad. Money was great, but as the former H.W.C. PR department head, she knew it’d be bad for her image if she didn’t do something generous right now. Unless…

“This poor boy… Doesn’t he deserve an apology even more than I do?” she shouted accusingly at the soldier.

“Huh? Why? What happened?” The boy asked.

“That soldier wants to apologize to me for the trouble he caused us, but they hurt you even more! But I guess they aren’t interested in you for some reason. How about I give you this instead?” She thrusted the bag of coins in his directions. 

“Wow, that’s great! Thanks!” But Susie was groaning inside. If the knights didn’t catch the implications of her words, or if the soldiers just didn’t care about their image, then there went her newly acquired travel funds. 

The Antler lord panicked; the goddess had asked for the money and now the girl was giving it away immediately.

“No need, we’ll reward the boy as well!” The two red Antlers marched up from behind, producing their own sacks of coins. Both Susie and the lord sighed in relief at the resolution.

_ Alright, now my funds are  _ actually _ secured. All set to hightail it outta here. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You think, with the lyrics to The Noble Haltmann, especially in Japanese, that Haltmann certainly has some sort of god complex. Well, like father, like daughter. 
> 
> Lowkey halfway through writing that paragraph about the storm cloud I was like ‘wait I’m probably going to sound like an idiot who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, maybe this was a bad idea’
> 
> Anyway, I also took a bit of lines describing Sectonia from elsewhere, I wonder if anyone might recognize them?
> 
> Well, actually, I just made it a lot more obvious upon revision.
> 
> Again, I broke a week with this, but I sorta realized the chapter felt pretty inadequate and tried to make it a bit better. 
> 
> Well, there was also just the usual procrastination. Hey, check out this banner I made for a contest!   
> https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/223591684968022016/742273104344121454/Banner.png  
> It’s just some posed models, so I don’t expect it to win over an actual art submission, but it is pretty nifty I think! Susie can’t float like everyone else, so she’s hanging on to Taranza’s head. Poor Taranza. Meanwhile, Zan is interested in Magolor’s ears, maybe they look a bit familiar? And well, Berge is accidentally messing with Francisca as usual, not that she actually minds. She… does not look good without her hat in terms of the model.
> 
> ...
> 
> Yikes, last's week's notes those were. Lot happening, wish there wasn't. Exams, home cleaning and renovations, and of course, more procrastination, such as learning how to rip models from Switch games and building Pokemon Mystery Dungeon playlists. I actually originally delayed this because I felt like the chapter didn't read satisfyingly as well. 


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